Omagh, Co Tyrone-based dairy processor Strathroy Dairies will penalise southern suppliers who have not passed the dairy quality assurance (QA) audit.

Strathroy has written to all its suppliers in the Republic of Ireland warning them that strong penalties will be imposed from the summer onwards should farmers not be signed up to the Bord Bia Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS).

The Strathroy stance is that all dairy farmers must be signed up to the SDAS, or quality assurance as it’s known, by 2018.

Ruairí Cunningham of Strathroy said: “Our goal was to become the first milk pool on the island to be 100% Bord Bia Quality Assured. This could have benefits in securing new business.”

“We have been left with no alternative but to impose penalties on those suppliers who have not yet passed the audit. From 1 June, we will levy unapproved suppliers 3c/l on all their supplies. This will rise to 5c/l (from) 1 September.”

Recently, Carbery decided if milk producers are not participating in the SDAS by 1 April 2017 they will be charged a penalty of 5c/l. Furthermore, if not audited by 1 July 2017, the penalty will continue.

To date, other processors have introduced small but insignificant SDAS bonuses. Dairygold and Kerry have a 0.1c/l bonus, LacPatrick a 0.25c/l bonus and Arrabawn 1c/l. Glanbia has no SDAS penalty or bonus.

Certified

A spokepserson for Bord Bia said there are 14,646 certified members of the SDAS, accounting for approximately 82% of all dairy farmers. The range of certified suppliers among the larger processing co-ops is between 80% and 97%.

Over 24,400 audits have been completed on more than 15,200 farms, with some farmers already audited twice or even three times.