The dairy market is being abused by large processors and retailers and needs to be fixed by regulators, John Comer, the outgoing president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), has said.

Addressing his last AGM as president of the organisation on Monday, he said that the association does not accept the line that the market sets your price.

“The market is rigged, and rigged markets have wiped out the family farm system in most other member states.

“Nor is scale the answer because there’s only so much work that one individual can do. The market is being abused by large processors and retailers and it needs to be fixed by our regulators.

“Farmers are regulated almost out the gate at this stage but the powerful links further along the chain appear to be able to set their own agenda backwards to the farm and forwards to the consumer with no interference whatsoever from either our Government or the EU.”

He said the liquid milk market in Ireland is a clear example of what can go wrong.

“Our very own processors – and we need to be very frank on this – have destroyed a sector by selling liquid milk to large retailers at unsustainably low prices and passing the hit back to their milk suppliers. That’s what happened, and it cannot be allowed to happen in other sectors as well.”

Comer has been president of the association since 2011 and was the first person from the west of Ireland to lead the organisation.

The fodder crisis and farm safety have been two of the lowlights of Comer’s career, he said.

“When you reflect back, the fodder crisis was a very difficult time for farmers back in 2012. It was the first issue I had to tackle when I came in.”

On farm safety, he said that the statistics in relation to farm accidents and fatalities and the legacy of bereavement and grief is a concern that he holds “in my heart”.

“We haven’t improved the statistics. They’ve got worse. That’s certainly a low point and needs to be worked on with a collaborate approach from the industry.

“There’s no more time for excuses we have to face up to it and do something about it, as individuals and as a government.”

One of the high points of Comer’s tenure was born out of a low point, he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Choice

“When the milk crisis hit and milk was at 22c/l, everybody was worried and vulnerable to insolvency. We managed to get a volume reduction scheme introduced. For the very first time, a dairy farmer had a choice. He could take the reduction scheme at 14c/l on a voluntary basis or he could produce to what the market would give him.

“We never had a choice before as a farmer. It took out a billion litres which would now be in storage if it hadn’t been introduced. It brought equilibrium into the marketplace in terms of supply and demand.”