DEAR SIR: An open letter to the board and council of Tirlán, who are elected to represent the shareholders and suppliers of Ireland’s largest co-op.

Glanbia is still blaming farmers for the flaws in the schemes which they themselves designed and adjusted.

As every scheme from the earliest right up to FM 17 was massively oversubscribed, the question has to be asked why they bowed to pressure to change a scheme when farmers continued to participate in such large numbers.

Saying that farmers were responsible for their own level of involvement is true in one sense, but the deeper truth is that many farmers, particularly new entrants, rely heavily on their own co-op advisers and elected co-op farmer representatives for guidance.

That guidance was to participate in the schemes. It became established practice to overtender to secure the desired volume of milk. At no stage was this practice discouraged in any way.

The question has to be asked why they bowed to pressure to change a scheme when farmers continued to participate in such large numbers

It’s not to Glanbia’s credit that it took until late October before they clarified the volumes of milk in fixed-price schemes.

Was their reluctance due to the fact that 25% of milk was in fixed-price schemes, exaggerating the scale of the problem?

We now know that the issues for the 13% in fixed-price schemes (5% next year) can be more easily addressed than had been intimated.

I view the fixed milk price support scheme as little more than a three-card trick. It’s a sleight of hand, in that the extra money paid in 2022 will be lost in 2023 and those losses may well continue in 2024.

When Tirlán speaks of an average milk price above breakeven for people with high exposure to fixed-price schemes, they neglect to point out that this is at the expense of locking in milk for 2023 at a price that will barely cover production costs, and will be way below projected milk price, with exposure to high production costs continuing right through 2024.

There would be no major winners or losers, with gains or losses never extending to more than a cent or two per litre in either direction

Every farmer understood that the fixed-milk-price schemes were designed to minimise exposure to risk. There would be no major winners or losers, with gains or losses never extending to more than a cent or two per litre in either direction.

The farmer-elected board must now show leadership, accept responsibility for the flawed scheme which has massively exposed farmers to the current volatility in input costs, and ensure that no farmer’s business is threatened by their involvement in fixed milk price schemes.

The current supports, welcome as they are, fall far short of that.