Dairy farmers’ livelihood dependent on show promotion

THE glamour of the horse show might seem far removed from farmers milking their cows at home, but the horses and riders from 10 countries competing in the main arena in Ballsbridge have an important link with the economic well-being of 27,000 dairy farms.

For the prices the farmers are paid for their milk supplies by processors largely depends on the buoyancy of the international markets for dairy products being promoted through the show. The Irish Dairy Board, a commercial co-operative, markets the products of its co-ops and dairy companies in some 80 countries across four continents, with the aim of generating the maximum return for the primary producer.

It owns the internationally established Kerrygold brand, which is 40 years in existence this year, and is this country’s biggest food exporter, with annual sales of 1.9 billion.

As the main sponsor of the Kerrygold Dublin Horse Show since 1989, the IDB has invested over 6 million in the event, because it lends itself admirably to the further development of Ireland’s only international food brand in markets around the world.

A wide range of television networks abroad take RTÉ’s coverage of the event, exposing the Kerrygold brand to a potential audience of over 200 million consumers, many of them showjumping fans.

This year, more than ever, the worldwide promotion of the Kerrygold brand through the coverage of the horse show is as crucial to that aim as it ever was. For the world markets have been particularly difficult in the past 12 months, due to a number of factors, including increased competition from other dairy processing countries, such as New Zealand and Australia. T

his has pushed down milk prices in the EU, including Ireland, where costs have also increased at processor and supplier level. The downturn is causing dairy farmers a lot of anxiety.

Processors have also expressed unease, pointing out that since dairy markets began to fall last summer, co-ops in Ireland have cushioned farmers from the full decline in returns by keeping up the milk price from their reserves.

The European Commission, under particular pressure from Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh and the farm lobby, has increased supports for the dairy sector. But the farm lobby has warned that more supports may be necessary to rescue dairy farm incomes, which they say have fallen by as much as one third this year.

The IFA, which is holding milk price meetings in Kilkenny tonight, Roscommon tomorrow night and in Mallow, Co Cork, next Monday night, claim the dairy income crisis has not gone away. Dairy committee chairman Michael Murphy said that although most of the peak milk has now been produced, the cost-price squeeze has cost the average dairy farmer 10,000 this year.

“This is a huge income loss, one which will not only affect the ability of the farm business to meet financial commitments, but also bite into the living expenses of the family.”

Irish Dairy Board managing director Dr Noel Cawley, speaking at the RDS yesterday, said markets were all in and around intervention prices.

“We are hoping they are going to improve in the last quarter, but at the moment, there is no great evidence that they are.” Dr Cawley said the European Commission had put a lot of money into supports, but every time it increases refunds, the world price goes down.

The strongest market is still intervention. He noted that at the same time as EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler introduced his CAP proposals, the commission introduced intervention by tender. But every time it had a tender, the dairy prices had fallen back. “There is obviously a very clear policy in the cCommission to bring down prices.

I think they know that is hitting the farming population across Europe. There seems to be a plan there to bring down prices to about 95% of what they were.” Dr Cawley said he was a bit surprised the Council of Ministers had taken this so lightly because farmers in Germany, France, Denmark and Ireland were all hurting.

Accepting that he was not optimistic about the markets for the remainder of the year, he said even if they did improve, most of the milk had been produced and sold at this stage. It would be very important, however, if the market for cheese improved, which he felt it would, particularly the English market.

Dr Cawley said Kerrygold brand sales had been quite good in most countries. Only for that the Dairy Board would have had a lot more problems. It also had to be recognised that all of the co-ops were subsidising the milk price at the present time. Making profit was difficult for any of them. Except for its subsidiaries, the Dairy Board would not be making a profit on anything it was doing on Irish product at the moment, other than on the branded side. Some 240 Kerrygold customers from 20 countries are IDB guests at the celebrated show, which continues until Sunday. They will also visit some of the plants that manufacture Kerrygold products. Meanwhile, all registered dairy farmers, many of whom also breed sport horses, can avail of a 50% discount on adult or family tickets to this year’s event.

The IDB, in association with the RDS, made over 27,000 discounted tickets available to registered dairy farmers through their dairy co-ops and companies.

But the take-up by the agriculture community this year has been slow, mainly due to farmers having to catch up on lost time in their harvesting work as a result of the wet weather.

“This is an excellent leveraging initiative from the Irish Dairy Board, linking their sponsorship from the Kerrygold brand back to the farm gate,” said Horse Show Director Gerry McAuliffe.