Proposed New Payment Structure for Liquid Milk in Glanbia

Fresh Milk Producers (FMP) Chairman Eamonn McEnteggart has welcomed the strong turnout to date at meetings to discuss the new payment structure for liquid milk. “We have been negotiating this deal for 18 months, and it is now at a point where we are putting it to our members. The changes proposed are far reaching and radical. The group reaction is positive to the structure. However to ratify the negotiated deal officially, a Central Executive will be held in August.”

Traditionally Liquid Milk in the Glanbia group has been supplied and paid for on a flat rate system going back to the groups’ inception in 1937. “This move to an A+B-C payment structure is a momentous leap and a huge change for liquid suppliers to Glanbia. We have traditionally focused on quality and volume. Under the new structure, constituents will have considerable influence on the price the farmer receives for his milk. Our breeding and feeding systems will have to evolve to take into account the constituents in milk supply. This will take considerable time and effort on the ground to attain.”

Mr McEnteggart said, “While the proposal is a huge change, we have built in several safeguards for specialist year-round quality milk suppliers. They include a working band which takes some of the volatility out of the system, a gradual transition option which gives farmers until April 2014 to be paid fully on solids, a contract alignment mechanism that encourages sales and a differential which makes a firm effort to cover the costs of 365 day milk production.”

All Fresh Producer Members can access a copy or gain clarity on any detail on the proposed deal by contacting their local group representative the Group Secretary or on the web at ifalegacystagi.wpengine.com/fmp.