Nine months of poor milk prices and high input costs have left dairy farmers struggling to produce at current prices, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has warned.

Noel Murphy, the chair of ICMSA's Dairy Committee, said farmers are not interested in “sympathetic ears” but want “a speedy and workable plan” to bring the milk price back up.

He believes the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, co-ops and EU officials need to come together to work on the "collapsed milk price".

One solution according to Murphy would be the introduction of an EU wide Voluntary Milk Supply Reduction Scheme.

Measures like this were introduced by the European Commission in 2016 in response to "exceptional market pressures" at that time following the abolition of milk quotas.

But according to Minister Heydon no formal proposal for an EU voluntary milk reduction scheme has todate been tabled by the European Commission.

The ICMSA dairy chair has called on Minister Heydon to use his position as the chair of the EU Farm Council to push a voluntary reduction scheme.

He believes that this measure would “almost instantly” help drive milk price upwards.

Milk price

Murphy has also suggested that the milk price paid by Irish processors to farmers has not helped the current situation.

He has disputed that the "supports" provided by co-ops are in reality supports that "have been generated by the farmers themselves; it’s ultimately farmer money that’s supporting farmers".  

"We’d like the milk processors to be much more transparent and forthcoming in relation to returns from the marketplace and they need to utilise the substantial profits made during 2025 to bring farmer milk prices to a realistic level - and we include Ornua in that category. 

"Farmers are asking the very legitimate question, are we seeing any benefits from these improved prices?  And the answer would appear to be a resounding no," he said.