ICMSA president Pat McCormack said the €2bn/$2.48bn was an ‘astounding’ amount to lose from Ireland’s rural economy and would affect spending ‘by possibly double that amount’, i.e. €4bn/$4.9bn.
The Association’s analysis includes each of the 26 counties and used an average milk price of 59cpl for 2022 (euro cents per liter, or around 63 US cents per liter, ed.) and an expected average price of 37cpl for 2023. With production expected to fall by 2% YoY, this amounts to 38% of dairy revenues wiped away within 12 months, according to the trade body. The analysis does not consider input costs from fertilizer, energy, or feed, suggesting that income losses could be greater.
At the county level, Cork has seen almost half a billion in reduced farmer incomes, while Tipperary is set to lose around a quarter of a billion in direct revenues, according to ICMSA’s calculations. “These counties have large processors and this is where the multiplier effect can bite even harder with so many indirect jobs depending on the dairy sector,” said McCormack.
“2023 has seen very severe cuts to milk prices throughout the course of the year and it comes as no surprise to see the spending power of dairy farmers dramatically deteriorate and this is being reported by businesses across rural communities that provide goods and services to dairy farmers and the wider dairy industry,” McCormack continued. “From concrete to shed suppliers, to milking equipment to farm machinery, the reports coming back is that dairy farmers have stopped buying and investing, only the very basics are being purchased and this is going to have a dramatic impact on the local economy.”
