Co-operative spirit needs to ramp up during COVID-19 crisis

THERE is growing concern amongst farmers at milk being disposed of in other countries amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

That’s according to the IFA’s National Dairy Chairman Tom Phelan, who said he has been contacted by several farmers who are concerned at what they are seeing for themselves on social media.

Mr Phelan, however, is hopeful that the co-operative ethos within the industry will prove crucial in allaying such fears here at home.

“Our co-ops have a strong track record of collaboration at peak to cope with processing capacity difficulties, which occur every year,” he said. “They also process our milk mostly into long life, storable commodities, not products destined for the food services trade, which is temporarily closed..

“I do not wish to understate the seriousness of the challenge posed by COVID19 to the entire food industry, dairy included.

“But I know from ongoing, bi-weekly contact with stakeholders including processors, that they are working very hard together on contingency planning. At this point of the season, all is going as well as possible.

“Staff working in our plants and truck drivers collecting our milk are all working very hard and farmers duly appreciate this.

“Farmers are also playing our part to ensure the safety of all. Management are working to anticipate staffing issues by training additional employees to do critical jobs, they are redirecting milk to a different plant where necessary, and I am very clear that all are committed to doing everything possible so that every drop of milk is collected and processed through peak and beyond.”

Mr Phelan has requested that all co-ops provide detailed and regular updates to suppliers on the kind of challenges they are meeting, and how these challenges are being tackled by co-ops.