ANGRY DAIRY farmers continued their protest campaign against Ireland’s largest milk processor, Glanbia, staging protests in Portlaoise and Wexford yesterday over cuts in the price they receive for milk.
Campaign leader Richard Kennedy, chairman of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s dairy committee, urged farmer board members of Glanbia to apply creative thinking to reverse the March cut to 20 cent a litre.
“In view of the unprecedented income hardship being suffered by suppliers, board members need to find some method to share out some of the guaranteed € 134 million plc profits,” he told the Wexford protest.
“I know full well how difficult dairy markets are – however, I cannot understand how the biggest, most efficient and most diversified processor in the country cannot pay a better milk price than some of our smallest, most commodity-dependent co-ops. After all, they all operate in the same difficult market, but the West Cork Co-ops and Lakeland Dairies will return up to 3 cents per litre, or €500 more to their suppliers for their March milk alone,” Mr Kennedy said.
He repeated that at 20 cent per litre, producers were receiving 7 cent a litre less than it costs to produce milk, a figure which had been scientifically verified by Teagasc and other bodies.