Representatives of the Irish dairy industry met in Dublin yesterday to formulate a strategy for a meeting with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Franz Fischler, in Brussels on Friday.
The Brussels meeting will focus on the major issues facing the Irish dairy sector, which is now under pressure after having been the most profitable area of farming in the past decade.
The farming organisations claim that the downturn in the global economy and competition from non-EU suppliers has forced down the price of dairy products, causing the average producer here to lose €10,000 in the past year.
Yesterday's meeting, attended by the farming organisations, Department officials, and executives of the main processing companies and co-operatives, was aimed at devising a strategy to convince Mr Fischler that more supports for dairy exports are needed. The industry is supported mainly through export refunds on products sold to third countries.