A voluntary milk supply reduction scheme made available across the EU by the European Commission has been called for by Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) president Denis Drennan.

Drennan said such a scheme would reduce supply coming on to the market and this has been proven to “put a floor under” milk price for farmers.

“With global supplies up 2.3% between January and November 2025, compared to -0.1% between the January and November 2024 period, it’s very obvious that the global market is currently oversupplied.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The market has probably over-corrected, but, as usual, the only person paying the price for this market turbulence is the dairy farmer.

“No one else in the dairy sector, whether personally or as a business, is taking the kind of financial hit that results from a milk price falling from over 50c/l to below 33c/l in some cases,” Drennan said.

The ICMSA president added that the Government needs to translate its words of support for Irish farming into action.

“One or no other part of the sector is losing so much as a cent; it’s the farmer who’s taking the hit for the whole sector, with everyone else using the farmer’s wipeout as the equivalent of a reset button for the whole sector.

“Everyone along the supply chain benefits from a market upturn, but only the farmer suffers from a market downturn. It’s so obvious and it must be addressed,” he said.

Previous scheme

Addressing supply and demand, Drennan stated that while over-supply is global, “the EU can – and should – be fixing what’s within its own power to fix”.

“In 2016, the EU introduced an EU-wide voluntary reduction scheme which provided a payment to individual farmers to voluntarily cut their milk supplies for a specified period.

“The scheme worked almost immediately by changing market sentiment and, critically, it provided dairy farmers with an option of either producing more, the same or less milk in a market downturn.

“It was called for by [the] ICMSA and the EMB [European Milk Board], the umbrella group for EU dairy farmers organisations, and it turned the situation around almost instantly.

“The key was allowing farmers to make the decision for themselves because they know better than anyone their individual circumstances.

“We did this in 2016 and a decade later, we need to do it immediately and certainly well before peak production looms up in front of us,” Drennan said.

Opposed

The ICMSA president said the proposal would “doubtless” be opposed by some elements. But those objecting were obliged to propose their own solutions.

“Just waiting around” for the market to turn up of its own accord, Drennan said, was going to inflict irreversible damage.

“The essential point here is that support would have to be given at some stage and in some fashion.

“This voluntary reduction scheme had the merit of being practical, applicable at individual farm level and proven to put a price floor under a falling market.

“[The] EMB is strongly advocating this solution to what is rapidly becoming a market collapse and the Irish Government should throw its full weight behind an easy and affordable solution that will restore market balance in a speedy and transparent way,” he added.