ICMSA says Glanbia is ‘giving with one hand and taking away with the other’

WICKLOW farmers have expressed concern over recent milk price cuts and say they feel that Glanbia is giving with one hand, in relation to bonuses, and taking away with the other.

Commenting on the March milk price announcements so far, the Chairperson of the ICMSA Dairy Committee Ger Quain said that while the price being paid for March milk remains the same as February, the cuts announced within these price decisions are a massive concern for farmers and, in the case of Glanbia, the cuts announced would represent a drop in income of €15,000 in a full year for a 300,000 litre supplier.

Mr Quain said that the bills building up on farms are hugely concerning and Co-op boards simply cannot ignore these problems in the coming months when setting the price of milk.

‘Farmers are very disappointed that Coops had not ‘ held the line’ on price given weather related problems on farms and the likely fall in production occurring in major milk producing countries due to those weather conditions feeding into the system. There is a distinct possibility that forthcoming GDTs and ‘spot’ prices will reflect the fact that there’s been a significant fall in production in some key regions and this will feed into market sentiment very quickly as the data and the extent of the 17/18 fall becomes apparent,’ he said.

He said that the pain is being passed back in full to farmers and that this sort of milk price is unsustainable.

‘ The milk payments for the next three months are critical to a farmer’s total annual finances and Co-ops are going to have to start taking some of this pain themselves,’ he said.

He was critical of the ‘ bonus payments’ and said that farmers are not happy to see this movement to ‘special’ or bonus payments made at the discretion of the Co-op while the milk base price is cut month-on-month.

‘ICMSA is absolutely consistent on this: suppliers should be paid the maximum price for their milk and not be somehow strung along or kept afloat by special payments or bonuses awarded at the discretion of the Co-op. The reality is that these so called ‘ bonuses’ or ‘support payments’ are based on profits generated by the Co-op on the milk supplied or inputs purchased by their farmers and they should be part of the milk price and not be presented as a ‘special’ payment.’