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Most co-ops are not collecting milk from suppliers who are not Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) compliant.
Many of the large processors set a deadline that all suppliers must be quality assured from 1 January 2018 or else milk would not be collected.
Glanbia, Dairygold, Carbery, Lisavaird and Drinagh all confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that as of 1 January, milk is not being collected from their suppliers who are not SDAS compliant. Last year many processors introduced penalties for non-compliance and flagged that milk would not be collected unless farmers were quality assured.
As most cows on spring milk farms are still dry the impact of the deadline has still not been quantified.
Co-op breakdown
This week a number of the processors are writing to farmers to alert them to the fact that they must be quality assured.
If certification is up for renewal in March and April many are advising farmers to get the renewal visit completed before cows start calving.
Carbery and West Cork
In response to a query Carbery in West Cork have stated, “As from 1 January 2018 milk is not being collected from suppliers unless they are SDAS compliant.”
Speaking to a number of the West Cork Co-ops that supply Carbery this week they are confident that all suppliers will be compliant once calving starts and milk starts to flow.
A spokesperson for Lisavaird and Drinagh both confirmed they will not be collecting milk from non quality assured farms and that a good number of audits were completed in December and will be completed in January.
Dairygold
Dairygold have a similar policy which started 1 January 2018.
A spokesperson said, “A very small number of suppliers (less than 1% of milk pool) who are currently not supplying milk are not yet certified are awaiting audit prior to commencement of supply for 2018.
"Without SDAS certification, milk will not be collected. Dairygold expects all suppliers to be certified prior to commencement of supply for 2018.”
Glanbia
A spokesperson for Glanbia said: “At the June 2017 Board meeting it was agreed that a penalty of 5 cpl would apply from September for the small number of farmers who had not achieved Bord Bia Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) accreditation.
"The December 2017 Board meeting agreed that Glanbia Ireland will now have the authority to not accept milk from a supplier not in compliance with the SDAS audit process.
"The small number of suppliers in this category have received six-months written notice of Glanbia’s intention not to collect their milk due to the fact that they are non-SDAS compliant.”
Aurivo
A spokesperson for Aurivo said: "No decision on deadline has been developed by the board just yet but we have 100% of suppliers participating and 93% certified. We are working towards 100% certified in the very near future."
Arrabawn, LacPatrick and Lakeland are expected to impose similar policies in coming weeks.
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