Farmers are frustrated with the unknown and the fact Irish dairy processors are not able to at least guarantee some base price, even for three months ahead.
We owe a debt of gratitude to dairy farmers Con Murphy from Cork and David Kerr from Laois for participating at our dairy farmer meetings on Monday. They spoke about their battle with mental health and the solutions that led them to the road to recovery. The bravery shown by both men to agree to discuss this private issue in public will undoubtedly help other farmers in the same situation to discuss their own problems and return to full health, and remove the stigma around mental health.
One of the triggers to the illness common to both men was low milk price, especially as both were investing heavily. While we can’t do much about low global commodity prices, changing currencies, changing oil prices, etc, this uncertainty about milk price was one of the contentious issues among dairy farmers at our national roadshow. Farmers were frustrated with the unknown and the fact that Irish processors are not able to at least guarantee some base price, even for three months ahead.
In many developed dairy regions, milk purchasers will forecast a price for the year that may or may not happen. However, they will at the very least pay a certain base price and then top it up based on actual market returns. This gives farmers developing cashflow projections something to work on. Monaghan farmer Olin Greenan emphasised how cashflow budgeting has helped him develop a viable business but, as he said, a cashflow forecast is only as good as the information that goes in.
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We owe a debt of gratitude to dairy farmers Con Murphy from Cork and David Kerr from Laois for participating at our dairy farmer meetings on Monday. They spoke about their battle with mental health and the solutions that led them to the road to recovery. The bravery shown by both men to agree to discuss this private issue in public will undoubtedly help other farmers in the same situation to discuss their own problems and return to full health, and remove the stigma around mental health.
One of the triggers to the illness common to both men was low milk price, especially as both were investing heavily. While we can’t do much about low global commodity prices, changing currencies, changing oil prices, etc, this uncertainty about milk price was one of the contentious issues among dairy farmers at our national roadshow. Farmers were frustrated with the unknown and the fact that Irish processors are not able to at least guarantee some base price, even for three months ahead.
In many developed dairy regions, milk purchasers will forecast a price for the year that may or may not happen. However, they will at the very least pay a certain base price and then top it up based on actual market returns. This gives farmers developing cashflow projections something to work on. Monaghan farmer Olin Greenan emphasised how cashflow budgeting has helped him develop a viable business but, as he said, a cashflow forecast is only as good as the information that goes in.
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