HUNDREDS OF farmers are expected to protest at the Kerry Group headquarters in Tralee this morning over the price they are paid for the milk they supply.
The protest is set to coincide with a board meeting of the group, which has slipped from paying the top price for milk in the State to farmers to ninth.
The Irish Farmers Association which is organising the protest, said the suppliers wanted to express their anger at the cutback in price and were demanding a two cent per litre increase.
"Kerry used to be a milk price leader, setting the pace for the industry and always paying a top price. Now, Kerry has fallen back to ninth position out of 13 in the 2007 Farmers Journal/KPMG audit," said Derek Deane, IFA deputy president.
"This July, Kerry has slipped once again, and is paying its suppliers less than the other two big milk purchasers, Dairygold and Glanbia. Kerry's own suppliers now feel their company is more committed to the stock market than it is to them," he said.
"Kerry has scale, efficiency and a diversified, high-value product mix that puts it in a strong position to pay a leading milk price - indeed it used to have a proud record of doing so in the past," he said.
"Kerry must immediately pay an extra two cent a litre for July milk, and commit to pay a leading milk price for the rest of 2008 and for the future," Mr Deane said.
Pressure from suppliers forced Glanbia, the largest milk processor in the State, to increase the price it was paying to farmers by two cents per litre last month.