Industry must evolve as EU price supports are reduced: Henchy

ASKING Cork and Kilkenny to field a joint hurling team is like seeking a merger between dairy companies that are traditional rivals, said Dairygold Co-op Chief Executive Jerry Henchy last week to the Irish Grassland Association conference in Limerick.

"We must never underestimate the key and central role which local co-ops have played in their communities over the past century and more. For the shareholders and managements of these entities to participate in a wide scale rationalisation or consolidation of the industry is asking a lot", he said.

"However, I do not subscribe to the 'divided we stand, united we fall' mindset of the cynic", said Mr Henchy.