Dairy farmers need support at local and European level to deal with volatility in milk prices, IFA president Eddie Downey has told the association's conference on dairying, in Naas.

Milk production costs have risen by more than 40 per cent since 2005 while farmers have taken an average milk price cut of 18 per cent in the past five months.

They are also facing a large superlevy bill, with milk supplies currently exceeding quota by almost seven per cent. Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has been warning farmers to do what they can to reduce this potential bill.

Mr Downey told the gathering of some 250 farmers that they needed more from the industry than monthly price cut announcements.

“We need to see an industry strategy to provide volatility management solutions and sustainable milk prices, in which I believe the Irish Dairy Board must play a central role,” he said.

Mr Downey urged Mr Coveney and new EU agriculture commissioner Simon Coveney to canvass member states to get the butterfat corrector eliminated, which would reduce the superlevy bill. He also said the European response to the Russian ban had been lacking and Mr Coveney must demand several measures “to spare farmers the consequences of geopolitical decisions they cannot be expected to pay for”.

Milk quotas are being abolished at the end of March and excitement has been growing at the prospects for expanding milk production. However, Teagasc senior research officer Laurence Shalloo cautioned farmers against rushing headlong into expansion just because everyone else was doing so. He said there should be no expansion without a budget and a plan. He said it would take some time for new facilities such as milking parlours, and increased heifer numbers, to start paying for themselves so farmers should factor this into their plans. And Ulster Bank agricultural manager Anne Marie Butler said she was concerned that some farmers ,particularly new entrants to the sector, were obsessed with new facilities such as milking parlours with "bells and whistles" rather than looking at profitability.

ENDS