Why milk producers favour the co-op route
Glanbia plc have been making a poor attempt to portray their milk price in a favourable light by comparing it with the prices paid by certain other processors. The fact is Glanbia plc continues to languish well below the best payers and we make no apologies for benchmarking them against these processors. I welcome Brian O'Mahony's appreciation of the "inherent conflict between the milk suppliers and the company," and the fact that Glanbia plc's profit performance hinges on milk price.
With CAP reform and the WTO bearing down on us, future viability through maximising value added from the marketplace back to farmers is of paramount importance. Our proposal is clearly fundable, contrary to some views expressed in the articles and Glanbia board members have accepted this on a number of occasions.
The real issue is: which entity will deliver to farmers a plc representing the interests of shareholders or a co-op representing those of farmers?
We favour a commercially focused co-op, owned by and representing the interests of active farmer members, returning the best milk price through ongoing investment in product innovation, capital expenditure and appropriate strategic investments all of which are provided for in our proposal.
Eamonn Bray,
Chairman, Fresh Milk Producers,
Irish Farm Centre,
Naas Road,
Dublin.
