Moorepark 2017: increase in milk prices gives positive outlook for dairy incomes

All dairy farmers and dairy industry stakeholders are invited to attend the Teagasc Moorepark open day next Tuesday 4 July.

This is an ideal opportunity to see at first-hand the results of the comprehensive research programme at Moorepark, and to meet Teagasc research, advisory and education staff.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘‘resilient technologies’’.

Resilient Technologies

Resilient technologies will allow dairy farmers, and indeed the entire dairy industry, to flourish in both the good times like this year and the more challenging times like 2016 when milk price was low.

The outlook for the year ahead is positive based on higher milk prices that should increase dairy farm incomes.

The Irish dairy industry has expanded significantly over the last four years and further expansion is anticipated.

The Food Harvest 2020 report forecast that milk production would increase by 50% by 2020 relative to the average milk production from 2007 to 2009 (4.93bn litres).

Based on 2016 milk production of 6.67bn litres, Ireland has achieved 35% of the 50% increase in milk production (43% increase based on milk solids), and should easily achieve the 50% target by 2020.

Export value

As a result of the increased milk production, the export value of Irish dairy products has increased from approximately €2bn in 2009 to €3.4bn in 2016.

This increase in export value has come from primary industry using predominantly Irish inputs.

This has, and will continue to have, a very beneficial effect on the Irish economy, especially in rural areas.

Hence, Irish dairy farming is in a very positive position but we must continue to focus on resilient technologies, which allow us to maintain our competitive advantage in milk production.

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