Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) president Denis Drennan has called on Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to support EU member states' calls to examine a voluntary milk reduction scheme.

Drennan expressed surprise and disappointment that Ireland is not currently supporting the call and said that next Monday's EU agriculture council gives the Minister the opportunity to back the proposal to aid bringing EU dairy market prices down to realistic levels.

Drennan acknowledged that markets have improved somewhat in recent months. However, this is not sufficient, according to the ICMSA president, as milk price has dropped from a base price of 50c/l in September to below 33c/l.

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Drennan said: “Farmers have not seen any milk price increase in 2026 and seasonality bonuses will be gone for March milk onwards. Irish dairy farmers have been receiving a price that’s considerably below the cost of production for months and this was the case well before the Iranian crisis.

Outbreak

“In the wake of the outbreak of hostilities, the situation has got even worse, with fuel prices and fertiliser prices having now risen to unsustainable levels and putting farmers in a destructive and impossible costs-income squeeze,” he stated.

“We hope to see the Irish Government and Minister Heydon ‘putting his shoulder to the wheel’ on Monday and support the Belgian proposal that will help restore some degree of stability and predictability to a very confused and damaged scene right now.

“The voluntary reduction scheme has been criticised by some, but it’s very notable that these critics have no alternative proposal other than for dairy farmers to take the full hit of the broken marketplace - while their own positions and incomes are fully insulated.

“That’s not a sustainable position; if you don’t like the idea of a voluntary reduction scheme, then you are at least obliged to come forward with another viable policy”, the ICMSA president said.

Drennan emphasised that the Minister and the EU farm council should show strong support for the dairy industry on Monday and that measures to support primary producers should be introduced to give farmers a choice when the market cannot provide a sustainable price.