DEAR SIR:

I was disappointed with the Glanbia five-year fixed milk price and thought an opportunity was lost to return a viable milk price to producers going forward. As was seen in your Irish Farmers Journal edition recently where it fell short of a historic milk price.

I think they should go back to the drawing board based on those figures as these were proof to me and many others that it was a backward step we are taking.

I would like to congratulate the Irish Farmers Journal on these figures and they proved that if we are serious about keeping young people in our industry then it should be on a better margin than before.

The milk has to pay for all expenses on a farm and still there must be a margin for future investment on farm and to deliver a better standard of living going forward.

Debt has built up on farms due to our recent poor milk price, while co-ops in many cases got a margin when the producer was forced to take all the hit.

If people within the dairy industry are serious and fair about our future, it must be for all not the few and must include protecting the producer’s margin so he or she can grow within it, to strengthen it going forward.