Co-op’s plan to protect milk price

UNLOCKING its assets in businesses such as IAWS and the Irish Dairy Board will protect Dairygold Co-op’s milk price, as it prepares for the challenging transition period from the EU agri-support era, said Chief Executive Jerry Henchy last week.

Change will require funds, he told the rish Grassland Association conference in Limerick. “Our goal is that these funds would be put in place in a manner which prevents Dairygold becoming a brake on Irish milk price over the course of our change period, the next two to three years.” He also said it is vital that Dairygold manage “non-agri foods” to maximise their value for the business.

He suggested that the former Bord Bainne, now the Irish Dairy Board, can best serve Irish dairy farmers by going back to what it was put in place to do, to market Irish dairy products, and release the extensive value it has built up outside this remit, to act as a catalyst in the forward development of the Irish dairy industry.