The Irish Farmers Journal understands that as many as 20 further jobs have been cut at Lakeland Dairies, predominantly administrative and agribusiness roles, as the processor responds to falling milk volumes. These are in addition to the 78 job cuts announced last last year.

A spokesperson for the co-op said: “As part of our new strategic ambition Foundations for a Better Future, Lakeland Dairies continually reviews how best we can be as efficient, lean and agile as possible.”

CEO Colin Kelly told journalists last week that “the reality is nobody wants to close facilities, nobody wants to see people losing their jobs” but “as costs increase, if your factories are not full to the brim in a low margin business, inevitably job losses have to happen.”

He added that he would expect to see more of that across the dairy industry and that over the next five to ten years there will be “plenty of consolidation within the industry”.

Kelly said that while the days of spending on capacity are over, processors will have to invest in capability and adding value to products.

He said: “in some ways a contraction or flat line of milk has allowed the business to move to [the added value] stage quicker because there is not a volume pressure saying we need to invest €50m to €100m in a new plant.”

As well as capability and adding value, Kelly said that the other area for investment over the coming years will be decarbonisation.

He said Lakeland will have to spend “a hell of a lot of money” to reach environmental targets, but that “ultimately, it will be the cost of doing business”.