If liquid milk suppliers do not receive 40c/litre this winter, then more farmers will turn to seasonal and manufacturing milk.

These were the sentiments of IFA Liquid Milk Committee chairman Teddy Cashman this week.

“Unless the necessary increased winter payments of around 40c/l were forthcoming, the choice for specialist producers to move away from their high-cost liquid milk commitment could be precipitated by simple economics,” Cashman told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Read the full interview with Teddy Cashman

“Liquid milk producers are very badly exposed when dairy market prices are low, despite the fact that retail milk prices are unchanged. This is because our base price is the same as that paid to spring milk producers, many of whom are currently loss-making, but our cost base is structurally significantly higher. We need 40c/l on average across the year between a lower summer price and a higher winter payment to break even.”

Cashman and the IFA have launched a handbook on the liquid milk sector detailing the size of the sector, some of the challenges as well as recommendations on how to sustain the sector into the future.

“The aim of the handbook is to raise awareness among all the stakeholders, especially dairies, retailers, politicians, the media and consumers, of the vulnerability of specialist liquid milk production now that expansion opportunities exist for exportable milk,” Cashman said.