The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called on Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) to withdraw its proposal to include a “clear focus” on water quality improvement in Bord Bia quality assurance (QA) schemes.
DII last week presented details of its 10-point action plan which it believes could secure Ireland’s nitrates derogation. The plan sets out that there must be a “clear focus on water quality improvement” within the QA schemes for all sectors.
ICMSA president Denis Drennan said DII’s proposal “amounts to a proposal for additional rules and regulations on farmers”, which he said is “completely out of touch with the reality of farming”.
Drennan commented that “it is very disappointing that milk processors appear to want to use [the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme] SDAS to pressurise farmers into changes they simply cannot afford in some cases”.
He said this is a “completely wrong approach” to improve water quality and added that a “collaborative approach” working and supporting farmers, delivering a milk price to fund measures along with government supports is needed.
“If a dairy farmer fails his/her SDAS, the milk processor will not collect their milk, thus putting that farmer out of business and no other sector of farming has such a draconian measure in place,” Drennan said.
Commenting that the “biggest problem” within the farmgate is a farmer’s ability to pay bills and generate a “reasonable income” for their family, the ICMSA president said:
“With the milk price being paid by DII members and the price they are charging for inputs, this has not been possible in 2023 and into 2024.”
“It is about time that milk processors renewed their focus on milk price and stop advocating for more restrictions for farmers,” according to the ICMSA president.
Water quality
The ICMSA president said the association has and will continue to work with DII and others to support water quality improvements, which he acknowledged is a “huge issue” for the sector and in particular for derogation farmers.
“But the effective hammer approach of DII to use quality assurance as a means to drive compliance will not work and shows a serious disregard and disconnect between the milk processors and suppliers,” Drennan added.