DAIRY FARMERS ARE extremely concerned about how they will get by next year after being told that their incomes will fall by 50% next year.
They are calling on EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan to step up to the plate and take action to prevent a crisis in rural Ireland next year.
A forecast from Teagasc said falling global milk prices will mean 18,000 Irish farmers will see a fall in their profit margin to just two cents per litre of milk.
The devastating news has prompted the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) to ask Hogan to lend a hand. The association’s president John Comer met with him yesterday and urged him to increase the EU intervention price for milk to avoid a situation next year where rural communities fall into turmoil.
Agriland reports Comer also spoke in the meeting about the need to look at long term instruments to stabilise the market during periods of market weakness. However he stressed that this would not mean the reintroduction of milk quotas.
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