TIPPERARY dairy and beef farmer Jackie Cahill has already chaired his first meeting of the National Dairy Council, having been formally elected chairman earlier this week.

DAIRY farmers and the Irish co-ops have come up with a joint plan to agree competitive loans with Rabobank, a leading US bank and other overseas lenders.

EUROPEAN milk quota regulations should take a more relaxed line on butterfat content in the run-up to the end of the quota era in 2015, according to ICMSA president Jackie Cahill.

THE EU’s public service watchdog has criticised the European Commission over its delay in banning beef imports into the EU from Brazil, despite having evidence that it posed a risk.

The Taoiseach has not ruled out the end of the controversial garda-driven State cars, which he and his Cabinet colleagues use to travel around the country.

THE Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) and co-ops are negotiating reduced interest loans with non-Irish banks in the eurozone, the society revealed at its annual conference in Limerick yesterday.

Taoisaeach Brian Cowen has come in for heavy criticism at a meeting tonight of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association in Limerick.

A HUGE number of farmers are still awaiting their initial Disadvantaged Area Scheme (DAS) payments, according to Ireland’s main farmer representative groups.

FARMERS are enraged by analysis of the 2009 National Milk Agency Report, which shows that the farmer’s share of the retail milk price has fallen from 43% in 1995 to just 26% today, says the ICMSA.

FARMERS are coming under increasing financial pressure by the artificially low price for milk and butter being imposed by the Irish Dairy Board (IDB).

THURLES farmer Jackie Cahill has been re-elected as president of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), but only after a nail-biting photo-finish.

MEASURES to achieve a viable farming structure are being sought by the farm lobby in next Tuesday’s budget.

A World Trade Organisation draft deal to open up farm and manufacturing commerce has provided a “path forward” to ending seven years of frustrating talks on a new global trade pact, the top US negotiator says.

The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association is due to mount a protest outside Government buildings today in pursuit of measures to address last year's fall in farm incomes.

The Consumers Association and the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association have launched a nationwide poster campaign.