‘Investment in dairy processing a must if €8.9bn sector is to expand’

Investment in dairy processing facilities will be needed to keep Ireland’s hopes of expanding its €8.9bn export-valued agri-food sector on track, Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle has told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs.

Ireland’s main dairy co-ops have yet to overtly state their plans to invest in either new brownfield sites, expand existing facilities, or their intentions to either stay separate or share the costs of developing new facilities.

Prof Boyle told the Oireachtas: “The cost of building the capacity to process a 50% increase in milk production is estimated to be in the region of €350m to €400m. This Teagasc estimate is based on the construction of five or six additional cheese or WMP plants to process an increase of 50% in milk supplies.”