Mr David Christensen, UK Dairy farmer and member of the Arla Board of Governors spoke very strongly at the recent ICOS National Conference on the need for strong co-operatives to strengthen the position of farmers in the marketplace. He said that farmers benefit financially from membership of and commitment to a strong co-op. “Your co-op is an extension of your business”, he said, “and it helps to keep the market straight”. He said that the only tool which dairy farmers have to strengthen their hand in selling a perishable product is to be part of a co-operative, and this is fundamental if farmers want to benefit from the underlying growth in demand for food.

He cautioned farmers not to try to run the business, saying they should employ the very best people, pay them well, and work with them to get results. He also stressed the need for co-ops to deliver training and development for members to ensure participation in, and loyalty to the co-op. He cited his own experience, as director of the then Milk-Link Co-op which lacked the scale to deliver on its ambitions, and the process whereby the Board, determined to grow, while preserving their co-op ethos, proceeded to negotiate a merger with Arla.

His sentiments were strongly endorsed by Gabriel D’Arcy, CEO of LacPatrick Co-operative, who stressed the urgency of collaboration and consolidation to give Irish dairy co-ops the scale to engage with customers. He cited the extraordinary growth in scale of our customers, the buyers of dairy ingredients, and said that Co-ops need to need to radically grow their scale in order to retain influence.

Dr Sean Brady, speaking on the importance of co-operatives to the social structure of rural Ireland, challenged co-ops to target a significant improvement in engagement with the representation by younger farmers and women on Boards. He highlighted the pace of technological and social change, and suggested that co-ops, in order to remain relevant to farmers needed to reflect the entirety of their membership and not just the grey haired men.

Minister Simon Coveney, closing the conference, reaffirmed his commitment to the development of tools to counter dairy volatility. He acknowledged the coherence which existed in the dairy sector and credited the presence of co-operatives with the unity of purpose which exists to strengthen the position of dairy farmers.

By TJ Flanagan

Dairy Policy Executive