I’ve picked up a few whispers from dairy farmers that in light of soaring energy costs milk processors may need to reconsider the C element within the A + B – C milk payment system.

With rising energy costs for the second year since 2022 some milk producers feel that the work they’ve done to improve milk solids isn’t being rewarded.

The C refers to the processing charge and currently these charges vary across dairy co-ops from 3.35c/l to 4c/l while the Ornua PPI estimates the actual cost to be 9.5c/l.

Is it a discussion that needs to be had?