A group representing dairy farmers in the EU has given a lukewarm welcome to a vote by MEPs in the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee, on farmers' position in the supply chain.

The European Milk Board (EMB) - which includes the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) as one of its member organisations - said that the vote, while being an important step, is "not a breakthrough".

This week, MEPs on the Agriculture Committee adopted proposed changes to the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for agricultural products, with the aim of strengthening the contractual position of farmers in the supply chain and stabilising their incomes.

The Agriculture Committee expressed support for the obligation of written contracts for deliveries of agricultural products.

However, it proposed that member states may decide to exempt specific sectors of that obligation at the request of an organisation representing the sector.

The committee's report will now be scheduled for a vote in a plenary (full) session of the European Parliament.

Reacting to the committee's suggestions, the EMB said that while the decision "includes some progress, all in all, it nonetheless falls far short of what would be required for a real improvement in the situation of farmers".

The dairy farmer group said that the support for an EU-wide contractual obligation is a step in the right direction.

The EMB called for these contracts to include a revision clause that producers can activate in response to unforeseeable developments.

The group said it is "also interesting to note that there are now plans for the farmers’ side to draw up the contract offer instead of the first purchaser".

However, the EMB said that this "parliamentary position will not adequately change producers’ situation", adding that it should have been "much more ambitious".

The groups criticised the Agriculture Committee's position of allowing co-operatives to be exempted from the proposed contractual obligation.

This represents a "major weakening" of the CMO framework, the EMB said.

The group claimed that the income situation for farms "will not be fundamentally improved by this report".

The dairy farmer organisation said that negotiations between the parliament, the Council of the EU and European Commission on the final text of the new CMO rules will be "crucial", and that the "achievements must not be watered down".

"One thing is clear. Without a much deeper reform, it will not be possible to give farmers in Europe real prospects. Only clear and binding rules that ensure fair prices and cost coverage can prevent more farms from giving up," the EMB said.