Morale among dairy farmers has sunk to new low against the backdrop of supermarkets cutting butter and milk prices.
That is according to the chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) dairy committee, Stephen Arthur, who runs a dairy farm in Ballinaclash, Co.Wicklow with his wife and two children.
He said farmers will be “extremely disheartened” by both the price cuts in milk and the reduction in butter prices from today (Thursday, May 4).
Tesco Ireland, Aldi, Supervalu and Lidl all reduced the price of their own-brand butter from today.
“This is opportunism by the supermarkets,” Arthur told Agriland.
“It is a lost leader to pull in consumers because if these retailers really wanted to help their customers why are they not cutting the price of other products like for example pasta or bread?
“Why are they not bringing down other prices – why the decision to cut just milk and butter prices?” Arthur asked.
Last week a number of market leading supermarkets confirmed a 10 cent reduction in milk prices citing the reduction in the cost of producing milk as one of the key factors for the price cuts.
However Arthur has warned that successive cuts in the price paid to farmers for milk by co-ops since the beginning of the year has brought prices dangerously close to the cost of production.
According to the IFA dairy committee chair the successive cuts to milk prices since January could equate to a reduction in income levels of€50,000 for some dairy farmers.
“There’s been no let up in input costs for farmers – feed and fertiliser prices are still at record levels so there have been no price cuts for farmers.
“And there is a lot of concern because no one seems to be thinking about what is the knock on effect of price cuts in milk and butter – no one wins in the long run here because no one is asking about how much does it cost to produce a litre of milk,” Arthur warned.
The IFA is one of a number of farming organisations who have called for a new agri-food regulator to be appointed as soon as possible to ensure more transparency throughout the food chain.
Pat McCormack, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), said:
“Every farmer in Ireland is monitored at state level and every cent of inputs can be calculated while our milk price is announced publicly on a monthly basis.
“The difference when we step through the doors of the supermarkets could not be starker; no-one seems to know for sure how they put their margins together.”