ICOS seeks farmers’ view on volatility

Co-ops and farmers must work together to manage price volatility to protect both farmer incomes and co-op profitability, ICOS president Bertie O’Leary told those attending the Dairy Risk Management seminar hosted by Cork Institute of Technology on Monday.

The ICOS leader said that Irish farmers and the co-ops are faced with both a challenge and an opportunity in deciding upon how best to protect the income to be gained from Irish dairy output.

Mr O’Leary said: “Both parties must be protected in some way, since without profitable farmers we will have no milk, and without a strong and profitable processing sector we will have no industry, and farmers will have no-one to sell to, or certainly no one who will protect their interests.”