ICMSA members are ‘battening down hatches’

Prospects for 2015 will be a major topic at tomorrow’s ICMSA AGM, after co-ops warned that the cash-flow hit of falling prices, and a certain superlevy bill of up to €100m, will put enormous strain on many dairy farmers in 2015.

Many over-quota farmers will receive no milk cheque until next summer, and those cheques will be well behind those received this year.

The co-ops group, ICOS, said a feared 10c milk price cut, compared to 2014, would take €600m out of farmers’ cash flow. It also pointed out that many dairy farmers used the strong cash flow in the past year to fund expansion, and will therefore have a large tax bill to pay next autumn.