A fair wholesale price for private-label milk is needed as high input costs could threaten shop supply next winter, according to the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA).

The IFA liquid milk chair, Keith O’Boyle said a fair price must be ensured by the new Office for Fairness and Transparency in the Agri-Food Supply Chain which was recently approved by Cabinet.

O’Boyle explained:

He said that producing fresh milk requires farmers to milk their cows all year at significant extra cost. The IFA liquid milk chair added that this is now being compounded by the surge in input prices.

An increasing number of farmers are questioning why they are taking on extra costs and effort which is needed to milk all year around, according to the IFA liquid milk chair.

O'Boyle said liquid milk farmers need a bigger premium. He explained:

The IFA liquid milk chair said that, in the meantime, retailers must increase the price of milk and pass the entire differential back to the primary producer.

"Price won’t be a big concern if retailers cannot secure a sufficient supply of fresh milk next winter," he added.