GLANBIA plc group managing director, John Moloney, expressed disappointment at the rejection by farmers of the €343 million asset sell-off proposal.

CO-OPS are discussing how to continue the principle of shareholding proportionate to members’ use of the co-op, after milk quotas are abolished by the EU in 2015.

SEVENTY new entrants to dairying have each been allocated a milk quota of 200,000 litres under the new entrants scheme. Applications were considered through a selection process conducted by an independent assessment group chaired by John Tyrrell, director general of ICOS.

THE ideals of those who founded the country’s co-ops are still relevant today as the dairy industry faces major challenges.

THE dairy market continues to show resistance, and price returns to producers in Ireland are now at levels that threaten the very viability of many farm enterprises, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith warned yesterday.

A TOTAL of 200,000 litres of milk quota will be allocated to new entrants to dairying under a new scheme announced yesterday by Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith.

ICOS, the voice of the Irish co-op movement, is pushing for radical change in the Irish dairy sector.

MARKET support for the crisis hit dairy sector was sought yesterday as the head of the dairy section in the European Commission, Thorkild Rasmussen, began two days of meetings in Ireland.

A SENIOR official from the European Commission will visit Ireland next week to discuss the troubled milk sector with producers and processors.

THE dairy sector is set to experience an extremely difficult year in 2009, with the majority of milk producers making no income, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture was told yesterday.

SIGNIFICANT further savings in dairy co-ops through staff or other cost reductions have been ruled out by John Tyrrell, director general of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society.

IT would be wrong of farmers to believe there are significant further savings to be made through staff or other cost reductions in the dairy industry, the co-ops umbrella body ICOS declared yesterday.

THE Common Agricultural Policy health check negotiations entered a crucial phase at a Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels.

DAIRY co-ops in Ireland were urged by their national umbrella body yesterday to step up efforts to streamline the industry.

PROSPECTS for a deal at the world trade talks suffered a setback yesterday when France warned that the current proposals were not acceptable.

A NEW governance structure for the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, the co-ops’ national umbrella body, is being implemented and new committee members have been appointed.

AN INCREASE of 2% in Ireland’s milk quota from April 1, following agreement reached at the European Council of Agriculture Ministers, will be worth €35 million a year to dairy farmers in higher output.

C0-OPERATIVES will not be able to properly serve their members if they are not financially stable and viable, Irish Co-operative Organisations Society director general John Tyrrell has warned.

THE history of North Cork Co-op Creameries is one of vision, determination and improvement, allied to the commitment of groups and individuals with a strong sense of self-help.

TREES were toppled, garden furniture tossed into fields and debris — including corrugated iron and plastic sheeting — sucked 200m into the air as two tornadoes battered a rural community in West Cork yesterday.

IRISH dairy processors were urged yesterday to work together to exploit the opportunities which will arise during a period of major change in the next five to 10 years.

CO-OP leaders were told yesterday that the need for further restructuring in the dairy processing sector is now all the more urgent.

THE co-ops umbrella body, ICOS, has announced strong support for the €300 million grant aid package announced by Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan for capital investment in the dairy processing sector.

THE enticing tones of Marilyn Monroe entertained the crowds gathered on the Band Lawn at the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show yesterday with ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’.

IT CAME like a tidal wave.” That’s how businessman Finbarr Cahill remembers one of the worst floods to hit the south in the last 40 years.

ICOS, the umbrella body for the country’s co-ops, has called on the members of Dairygold to fully support proposed amendments to the society at tomorrow’s special general meeting in Mallow.

NEW proposals aim to bring shareholding rules in Dairygold Co-op right up to date with procedures in the world’s leading co-ops.

EXPORT refunds for whole milk powder were increased by 10% at yesterday’s meeting of the EU Milk Management Committee in Brussels.