DAIRY farmers in Northern Ireland could go on strike and withhold milk supplies if the province's co-ops don’t start paying a sustainable milk price.

According to Farmers For Action NI, now that the milk market has turned, the co-ops are wanting all the milk their farmer members can produce, but without offering any guarantee of a sustainable base price in return.

This has prompted outrage from NI dairy farmers, already hard pressed by an 'abysmal milk' price, compounded by an expensive wet summer in much of the region.

FFA spokesman William Taylor said: "It is in this context that FFA’s NI steering committee have decided to hold a milk crisis meeting in late November or sooner, depending on the response from the milk buyers.

“If the co-ops don’t move on price before the meeting, a vote will be taken whether to have a milk strike. Unless meanwhile corporate food retailers, corporate food wholesalers and co-op milk processors put their contempt for NI dairy farmers behind them, put their heads together and immediately make clear month by month increases on the base price of all NI farm gate milk purchases leading up to confirmation of 40p/l by December, supplies could be withheld.

“Northern Ireland’s milk buying co-ops are not off to a very good start with reports of an August base price of 19.2p per litre, with perhaps a penny a litre variation across the co-ops," said Mr Taylor. "Dairy farmers now have nothing to lose by striking as milk is in short supply, the EU reduction support is available and being taken up by many Northern Ireland dairy farmers and not forgetting that milk is worth approximately 10p per litre as fertilizer.

“At long last, this puts NI farmers in the driving seat where they now have the power to deliver fairness at the farm gate.”