How West Cork farmers Kieran, Catherine and Cathal O’Sullivan won the 2015 national NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Award will be revealed at their farm walk on the afternoon of Friday, 17th June 2016.

Today, May 26

A plea for all sectors of the economy to unite in supporting farming through “a perfect storm” has been made by the managing director of a leading agri-business.

The challenge to generate enough cash in the business over the next few months was outlined for dairy farmers this week, as the global dairy markets slump continued.

With a total organic retail market of almost £2bn (€2.5bn), and with the UK still the major market for Irish organic food, the potential impact of a Brexit on the Irish organic sector is large.

Talk of milk supply control returning in the EU didn’t boost the GlobalDairyTrade commodity auction on Tuesday, with a 2.9% slump to a seven-month low, defying signals from futures markets which had predicted a positive outcome.

Town of Monaghan Co-op is to merge with Ballyrashane Co-op in the North.

Some of the country’s biggest carbon polluters arestill failing to rein in their greenhouse gas output as Ireland prepares to back plans to hike the cost of excess emissions.

Water chiefs are facing calls to tap into a massive hidden network of underground rivers off the west coast in a bid to solve worsening droughts on the Aran Islands.

This week The Small Business Show looks at the latest news for SMEs including Professor Morgan Kelly’s comments on SME loans in Irish banks. Kehlan also travels to Limerick to talk to winners of the counties Student Enterprise Awards and looks at the plight of the Irish fishing industry as John Nolan from the Castletownbere Fisherman’s Co-Op explains why change is needed in attitudes towards the industry. The final part of the show spotlights Natasha Sherling, a gemmologist, diamond dealer and private jeweller.

Dairy farmers in the Tipperary Co-op region could potentially increase their post-quota milk output by 64% if they optimise their heifer-calving dates and boost grass growth, says Teagasc senior research officer Dr Laurence Shalloo.

Munster farmers gained some relief from the fodder crisis with the arrival of 75 trucks from Britain, delivering hay to Dairygold Co-Op at the weekend.

The ICMSA and Macra na Feirme are urging Dairygold members to attend the joint AGM and SGM on Thursday, and to support the co-op’s investment plans.

A group of former work colleagues have complained to gardaí after being unwittingly enrolled in a co-op that voted their boss’ husband onto the board of a State-sponsored quango.

Non-expanding milk suppliers will not contribute to the deferred (“13th”) payment mechanism that Dairygold is introducing from May, 2015.

After an anxious wait there was jubilation when the chairman of Glanbia, Liam Herlihy, announced that 83% of shareholders in Glanbia Co-op had voted to ratify their earlier decision to dispose of 10% of its holding in Glanbia plc.

Glanbia dairy farmers took one step closer to securing a €163m windfall after 81.8% of voters accepted to spin out and sell shares, but another crucial vote remains before the co-op shareholders can cash in.

Shareholders in Glanbia Co-op opted for a new era in milk processing when they voted by 70.8% to 29.2% in favour of creating a joint venture dairy operations with Glanbia PLC which will see individual co-op members get their hands on a share-out of €160m on PLC shares.

Two years ago, Glanbia plc attempted to offload its dairy-processing assets to Glanbia Co-op.

Adaptable, hard-working, expansion-minded, sustainable, caring for the environment — the image of our dairy farmers emerging from the NDC/Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards of 2012 bodes well for their role in Ireland’s ambitious food industry plans.

Nine dairy farms have been short-listed as finalists for the 2012 National Dairy Council & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards. The nine are:

A proposal to spin off the company’s domestic dairy operation is likely to get the green light, which should facilitate the expansion of the processing sector in Ireland in advance of EU milk quota abolition in 2015, reports Kyran Fitzgerald

Dairygold Co-op milk suppliers are being asked to provide a rolling four-year forecast of their milk volumes, commencing next Marsh.