Kiersey: Dairy farmers must raise co-op share if sector is to expand

ACTIVE dairy farmers need to increase their share of co-op ownership from its current 30% level, plus invest in new on-farm facilities if the sector is to achieve its ambitious expansion plans, said IFA national dairy committee chairman Kevin Kiersey.

Mr Kiersey told attendees at yesterday’s IFA-hosted Dairy 2020 conference in Dublin that there will be a need to invest in extra stainless steel and also, very importantly, in new product development and marketing to process and sell additional milk. Once existing resources, existing plants, have been optimised, catering for additional profitable expansion will require new resources and additional capacity.

“Farmers have always been to the fore in the industry’s expansion plans,” said Kevin Kiersey. “Those who were around for the expansion in the 1970s will know that we have the capacity to get to those production levels again. There will be a need for farmers to invest in on-farm facilities. If there were transparency on price I don’t think farmers would be adverse to the processors retaining some of the profit to help fund expansion. There would have to be very clear transparency for that.