Dairygold has announced a new €10m sustainability bonus for its milk suppliers.

The Grassroots milk supplier sustainability bonus will be paid to suppliers who undertake certain actions on their farm designed to improve sustainability, including reducing emissions, protecting water quality and improving soil health.

It builds on the existing 0.25c/l sustainability bonus introduced by Dairygold in 2019 and will give Dairygold’s suppliers the opportunity to receive a total of 0.75c/l (equivalent) by participating in the bonus programme.

Bonus payments will be made to suppliers who participate in six separate actions, namely a water quality farm visit, the purchase of qualifying protected urea products, a soil health programme, farmer training, milk recording and herd health.

Impact on 100-cow herd

For a 100-cow herd producing 560,000l of milk, Dairygold has said the bonus is worth €4,238 per year.

Dairygold chair Seán O’Brien said: “Our milk suppliers are at the core of any positive action we take as an industry to address the climate change and environmental challenge.

“Rewarding them for the positive sustainability changes they are making on their farms is crucial to ensure we have as much support as possible for our collective goal of meeting our environmental targets.”

Dairygold chief executive Conor Galvin said that Dairygold has a proud record of working with its suppliers to promote adoption of best practices in quality milk production.

“Our milk suppliers are very aware of the need to enhance environmental performance. This investment in our Grassroots bonus is our way of recognising the effort and improvements being made on farm to ensure our milk is produced even more sustainably.”

The payment is open to all suppliers now and they will be paid from the month they sign up to the programme.