Lakeland Dairies is the only dairy processor that paid “the correct price” so far for milk supplied in the month of May, according to one farm organisation.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) said today (Friday, June 18) that farmers are being “short-changed” by processors on May milk.
Ger Quain, the association’s Dairy Committee chairperson, called on processor board members to “stand-up” to management and insist that improved market returns are passed back to farmers “in full and on time”.
Quain drew attention to the “stark contrast” between falling markets (“when price cuts are introduced instantly”) and rising markets (“when farmer prices are raised grudgingly”).
“The benchmark of 36c/L was a very achievable and reasonable price for May milk and the fact that only one co-op, namely Lakeland Dairies, hit this as their base price is hugely disappointing and is – we strongly suspect -indicative of co-ops holding back on price for the peak production month,” Quain said.
He added: “Costs have risen substantially in 2021 and, while prices have kept ahead of them to this point, input costs are notoriously ‘sticky’ in that they tend not to fall as quickly as they rise.”
The ICMSA dairy chair argued that the “context to all this” is the question of environmentally sustainable milk production.
“For family farming to be sustainable going forward, milk prices need to stay at or above 36c/L.
“Processor representatives seem to think that farmers should be delighted with the price they are receiving, but inputs have risen, debts associated with investments need to be repaid, and real sustainability is going to require the current milk price to be itself sustained in the long term”, Quain remarked.
He claimed: “The blunt truth here is that if Lakeland was able to pay 36c/L as their base price, then so were the others – they just choose not to.
“That means that the board members who are charged with ensuring fairness to the farmer-suppliers have to explain why they did not stand their ground and insist that the price that could and should have been paid was actually paid,” Quain argued.