The chief executive of Kerry Dairy Ireland Pat Murphy said that the next 12 months will be "very challenging" for dairy farmers.

Murphy told the Listowel Food Fair Frank Hayes Memorial Farming Seminar last night (Monday, November 11) about the current difficulties facing global dairy markets.

"In terms of the milk price in the next 6-12 months it is a challenge for sure," he said.

"It is our ambition to pay a strong milk price all the time, a very competitive milk price.

"We'll do everything in our power over the next 12 months to try and keep that as high as possible," he added.

Dairy

The Kerry Dairy Ireland chief executive pointed to the high volumes of milk that are being produced globally.

"There's so much milk coming out of America at the moment, coming out of Europe and specific countries like Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, Poland over the last number of months. New Zealand has had a very strong 12 months, 18 months.

"So until the milk flows start coming back a little bit, at the moment there's too much milk there and there's too much dairy stock in warehouses," he said.

Murphy expressed some hope of higher demand for butter across Europe and across the world which could "eat into the inventories".

"But it is going to be very challenging for the next 12 months for dairy farmers, but it will go back up again, it's just a matter of time until we see that curtailment of milk output," he said.

Frank O'Mara, director of Teagasc told the seminar that the cost of production on dairy farms was 35.5c/L in 2024. That figure is expected to be around a similar level for 2025.

As a result, O'Mara said that cost control is going to be crucial on farms for 2026.

"As milk prices have come down, it's going to be really important to control costs," he said.

He added that securing the nitrates derogation beyond this year is a priority for the dairy sector.

Listowel Food Fair

The farming seminar at this year's Listowel Food Fair, which was marking its 30th anniversary, was dedicated to the late Frank Hayes.

The former director of corporate affairs with Kerry Group passed away in August 2024.

A native of Co. Galway, Frank joined Kerry Group in 1991 as group director of corporate affairs, and retired from that role in 2018.

He remained part of the Kerry team until his retirement from the business in 2020.

Multiple tributes were paid to Frank during the seminar who was remembered for his career with Kerry Group and spearheading the company's support for Kerry GAA, other sporting organisations and community events.

Frank's wife Grainne, son John and brother Michael attended the seminar at the Listowel Arms Hotel.

A print of a painting by local artist Olive Stack depicting dairy cows grazing in west Kerry was presented to the Hayes family by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon.