The National Dairy Council’s funding seems to be on shaky ground, with its main farming backer, Glanbia, potentially looking to pull out as political tensions escalate.

The farmer-levied organisation receives money from all the co-ops bar Dairygold and Lakeland.

I hear that Dairygold made an offer of a fixed sum contribution.

However, this is apparently a fraction of what the co-op’s contribution would be if all its farmers were levied. Altogether that would be something in the region of €1m.

Old LacPatrick suppliers continue to pay the levy but it remains to be seen whether Lakeland suppliers will come on board.

Glanbia would be of the thinking that it should carry more weight around the board table given the proportion of funding it contributes.

I hear the Glanbia board will discuss this at its next meeting.

The NDC levy, which is worth 0.007c/l, totalled €3.2m in 2017, with Glanbia farmers contributing the largest slice.

If the full 7.4bn-litre Irish milk pool was levied, the income would be €5.18m.