The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Pat McCormack has said the Minister for Agriculture must not exclude dairy farmers from the new silage support scheme.
McCormack said such a move would send a “terrible signal” to family dairy farms in the country, and completely fail to recognise the challenges facing dairy farmers this year.
A support package is currently being developed by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, under which farmers could get a payment of up to €1,000 to help cover silage costs this year.
The minister is expected to outline plans for the scheme when he brings a memo to Cabinet today (Tuesday, May 3).
The ICMSA president raised concerns that many dairy farmers have signed up to fixed milk-price schemes and are currently producing milk at a loss. He added:
“Costs have gone to unprecedented levels and for a minister to consider excluding farmers is appalling.”
Farmers will be extremely angry if dairy farmers are not included in the support scheme, McCormack said. He is calling on the minister to ensure that all livestock and dairy farmers are included.
While the minister previously stated that he would bring forward supports for beef and sheep farmers, the terms and conditions of the scheme are still being worked out. It is unclear if the support payment will be limited solely to these sectors.
The ICMSA president explained that – if dairy farmers are officially excluded – a 50-cow dairy farm would not receive support under the scheme, while a farmer with perhaps 10 cattle and an off-farm income of €500,000 would qualify.
If full-time dairy farms are excluded while people with substantial off-farm incomes are supported, McCormack said, this would be “beyond belief” and “another example of the anti-dairy bias from our current minister”.