THE IRISH Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has withdrawn its representative from the board of Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, over an article which appeared in yesterday’s Irish Times by Teagasc director, Prof Gerry Boyle.
In an opinion column, Dr Boyle said Ireland’s dairy industry had been constrained by the milk quota system and its removal in 2015 would present dairy farmers here with the potential to increase production by 20 per cent without significant investment at farm level.
The article has angered the ICMSA which was the only farm organisation in the State to oppose the ending of the quota system and which has been very vocal following the recent decision of the Minister for Agriculture to distribute a 2 per cent increase in quota which was given to Ireland during the recent review of the Common Agriculture Policy.
ICMSA president Jackie Cahill confirmed that the association’s administration committee had withdrawn its representative from the Teagasc board pending clarification and a full explanation from Teagasc on its stand with reference to milk price.
Mr Cahill said it was no longer possible for the ICMSA to allow its representative, Joe Fitzgerald, to sit on a board that could stand “behind this kind of wishful thinking and fantasy at a time when dairy farmers are experiencing the worst collapse in income in living memory.
“We so badly need a policy that matches supply and demand so that farmers can have income today – not in five years’ time. If the best that Teagasc can do is suggest expanding by 20 per cent when demand has collapsed and farmers are already producing milk below the cost, then we are truly set for a showdown,” he said.
“This is precisely the kind of nonsense that has driven the Irish and European dairy sectors to their knees and wiped out the incomes of thousands of dairy farmers across the country and Continent.
“If this is the official view of the authority, well then we all know where we stand. ICMSA will stand for a decent income for dairy farmers and Teagasc will stand for expanded quota and the demise of thousands of farm families who simply cannot subsidise multinational processors and retailers.”
Mr Cahill added: “I publicly challenge Teagasc to explain how dairy farmers will be better off after a 20 per cent expansion at world prices. Dairy farmers now demand – from a very well funded public body – the answer to this question: what will be the income of a dairy farmer with 70 cows under their policy?
“It’s time for Teagasc to join today’s real world and stop misleading dairy farmers with wishful thinking and fantasies which are not alone useless, but actually harmful.”