Presidents message

What every dairy farmer wants to know is when will the dairy crisis be resolved and milk price substantially increase. The Government and the EU are to a very large extent responsible for the crisis. Had they not started on the dismantling of the milk quotas then the global financial crisis would not have impacted as severely as it has.
At long last Minister Smith and his Farm Council colleagues have realised the depth of the mess that they have created. At the September 2009 Farm Council meeting they agreed that the economic situation on dairy farms is very serious and they recognised that because farmers have used up all their financial reserves their very livelihoods are now threatened. They further stated that the actions taken by the Commission to-date are not sufficient to improve the situation which dairy farmers now face and that if large scale continent-wide bankruptcies of dairy farmers are to be avoided then European Union must take further substantial measures.
Bear in mind that this is now the view of the Farm Ministers including Minister Smith. Among the actions they propose are short-term measures for increasing the price of intervention and for a system of market regulation that will prevent market collapse in the future. These measures recognise that the dairy market in Europe is not one that can be left solely to free markets forces. This is precisely the ICMSA position.
We outline the essence of our dairy policy and our policies on the credit crisis in our Policies section, which has arisen as a result of the milk price collapse. I can assure you that I, as President, and the whole Association, remain sharply focussed on the core policies which directly determine your farm income.Yours sincerely,



Jackie Cahill, President.