Ruairi Cunningham, Managing Director of Strathroy Dairies, has told Agriland that it is continuing to grow its farmer supply base in the South East.
“We are at Bannow and Rathangan Show in Wexford today, giving support to those farmers who have already committed their milk to Strathroy,” he said.
It’s southern supplier base, he said, is expected to grow over the coming months. “The latest transfer requests that we have received indicate that our milk pool will increase by a further 17.5 million litres on October 1 this year. These requests have come from farmers in the Wexford/Carlow area.”
He also said that Strathroy is also currently receiving requests from farmers in Co. Meath to supply milk. “We would be very keen to establish a producer supply base in the Co. Meath area. They are strategically located between Dublin and our processing facility in Omagh. In addition, our collection lorries are already travelling through Co. Meath on a daily basis. So it makes perfect sense for us to establish a strong milk supply base in that part of the world.”
Last month, Strathroy paid its Wexford suppliers a 38c/L base price. Ruairi Cunningham believes that the market might soften a little bit during the period ahead – but not by that much.
“The most recent Fonterra auction fell by just over 4% with butter taking the big hit. We will be deciding over the next 24 hours what base price figure will be used to calculate the July cheques. And, no doubt, this question will be put to us directly by farmers coming on to the stand throughout today.
“But the reality is that the prospects for milk production in Ireland remain extremely strong. And this is good news for dairy farmers the length and breadth of the country.”
