Autonomy of milk vital to Ireland
The numbers of Irish farmers in liquid milk is falling every year. While special supports for the provision of winter milk was once viewed as a national priority, that support has faded considerably in recent years.
The National Milk Agency (NMA), the statutory regulatory body for the supply of milk for processing for liquid consumption in the State, says milk imports are rising annually. The IFA led a liquid milk protest earlier this year calling for an extra 8cpl from retailers for liquid milk, or risk yet more dairy farmers leaving this specialist supply area and going into manufactured milk.
In last week’s edition of Farming, we featured farmers who have already taken the decision to exit liquid milk because they cannot make it profitable.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Agriculture, Éamon Ó Cuív, has welcomed a commitment from the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture to look at the supply of liquid milk on the island of Ireland.
Northern Irish Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA attended the Oireachtas Agriculture committee recently to discuss the matter with Minister Simon Coveney with a view to looking at the supply of liquid milk in the Island of Ireland.
Mr Ó Cuív raised the issue of ensuring the all year round supply of liquid milk.
“The first issue to consider is whether our supermarkets in a few years’ time could find themselves without fresh liquid milk in mid-winter. Most people probably never thought of this but there is a real danger it could happen. The supply of liquid milk from Northern Ireland into the State has increased from a zero base to 26% of supply in 2011. It has risen steadily over recent years as Northern farmers got milk quota from Britain. The problem is that this supply, unlike the supply from suppliers in this State, is not contracted through the National Milk Agency and could disappear overnight, if there was a shortage of liquid milk in Britain. This is something that could easily arise. A number of supermarket chains are using own brands to source cheap milk in the North and to bring it into the South. This milk is being purchased at unsustainable prices and could drive a number of all year round liquid milk suppliers, contracted to the National Milk Agency, out of liquid milk production. When it is considered that there are only 1,800 liquid milk suppliers in the State it is easy to see the impact that even a few farmers getting out of liquid milk could have on supply. The result of this could be to leave our shops without fresh milk in the winter time.”
“The State has an obligation to ensure the long term supply of liquid milk for the consumer. This is the responsibility of the National Milk Agency set up by the Oireachtas in 1994 to secure the supply of winter milk. If the market becomes over dependent on non-contracted milk from the North, or if the number of contracted suppliers in the State reduced further, the Agency would have to step in to ensure all-year round milk is available on the shop-shelves. It is very important that there is no sense of complacency in relation to this matter. The agency themselves have indicated to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture the type of extra powers they would like to secure supply here.”
“It is in the interest of producers North and South to ensure that milk production is profitable, in return for guaranteeing an all the year round supply of liquid milk. All parties in such talks should have a common interest in ensuring this outcome as it is also in the consumers’ interest. Short term cost cutting and long term supply shortages suit nobody, particularly the consumer. I believe by looking at this in an All-Ireland context that we can resolve the issues of distortion in trade here caused by the border. The present arrangements do not serve the interests of either farmers or consumers anywhere in Ireland and are open to manipulation by powerful supermarket multiples. The figures show that the percentage of the retail price being paid to producers has dropped from 43% of the retail value in 1995 to 32% in 2011. In other words it is not the consumer that is gaining from the decreased margin to farmers.”
Most of the main supermarkets and retail groups are willing to engage. They are also represented on the National Milk Agency Board. One major supermarket group, Dunnes Stores, however, has refused to engage. The Government will have to ensure that all steps necessary are taken to ensure an all year round supply of quality fresh milk on our shop shelves and if necessary will have to intervene to ensure this. The Government has been promising to publish legislation for some time to deal with the issue of the power of the multiples. This legislation has not yet been published despite a solemn promise made to me on the floor of the Dáil by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny that it would be published this session. During a recent visit to the EU Commission in Brussels, I raised the issue of redressing the balance between the supermarket multiples and the primary producers with a senior commission official. He indicated to me that a voluntary code is being developed at EU level to create this level playing pitch. He also informed me that if a voluntary code did not work that they would look at a mandatory code. With all the talk of CAP in the last year, I feel that not enough attention was given to the price issue for farmers. For the future of farming in Ireland and the good of our economy we need our farmers to be consistently making a profit from their actual farming enterprises excluding their de-coupled payments. Anything else is not sustainable.”
“No, the issue of price is a national issue, an EU issue and a world issue. With a rapidly rising population depending on the farmers of the world there will be food shortages unless we encourage farmers by price, to produce top quality safe food. What we need to do is move away from the simple mantra of “cheap food”, where more and more of the money often goes to the people in the middle rather than the consumer, to a policy of sufficient quality food, to feed the world, being produced at a fair price to the primary producer.”
