An ICOS delegation led by Vice President Michael Spellman and Board Member Liam Williams, represented Irish Agri Co-operatives at the COPA & COGECA #farmaction protest in advance of the emergency Ministerial Agri Council.

Spellman said ‘ICOS were using the opportunity to emphasise to the Commission the difficulties in agri market right now, the extent to which the co-ops have been supporting their members in the last 12 months and the need for decisive action by the Commission to address the market.’

ICOS estimated that farmer owned co-operatives have spent in the region of €100 million supporting prices for their farmer members since the imposition of the Russian Ban last year.

Spellman said ‘While we in farmer owned co-operatives are happy to support our members and have proven our intrinsic value in the food chain in giving farmers collective power and protection, the millions of Euro we are spending supporting prices, could be far better spent in areas such as developing new markets and research and innovation.’

He continued ‘Farmers are not looking for hand outs here, but we are looking for support to turn around the market so our businesses can make a return. Remember that European farmers this year are contributing over €850 million in Superlevy fines, with almost €70 million of this coming from Irish co-operative members and we are making the case to have a portion of this retuned to help stabilize the markets.’

ICOS have been engaging very constructively with Phil Hogan and his Commission team as well as our Department over the last year to come up with workable solutions to help our farmers and their co-operative businesses.

In terms suggestions ICOS have been looking for a suite of short and long term measures to help the market, and allow farmers and farming businesses to return to profitability.

ICOS also very much welcomes any initiative being brought forward to use food aid to help migrants at this time of severe crisis.

Short term:

• A more flexible approach to the operation of Private Storage Aid tool, such as the re-inclusion of cheese and adjusting timings of product entry and exit.
• Superlevy funds collected should be reinvested in market supports, including emergency intervention to address the market overhang caused by the Russian ban.
• Early payment of a significant portion of this year’s direct payments to aid the cash flow crisis at farm level.

Medium term:

• Trigger the review mechanism of the CAP to increase intervention threshold prices to reflect higher production costs.
• EU to redouble its efforts to further open third country markets including robust promotion measures.
• Strengthening of the European Milk Market Observatory which can facilitate the development of a European Dairy Futures market. This tool could be used by co-ops on behalf of their members to counter volatility.
• European Investment Fund needs to be leveraged in conjunction with our Rural Development Plan to encourage investment in our co-operative industry, and especially for the development of young farmers.

Contact: Conor Mulvihill 0032 48 6160372