The controversy over the proposed Dairygold trading scheme has blown up over the last two weeks, so the Irish Farmers Journal looked to what other processors are doing to encourage suppliers to trade more with their co-op.

  • Tírlán – No obligation to trade with stores, no bonus milk payment for trading. Since the start of 2025, Tirlán has introduced a new trading bonus scheme for farmers which will mean a rebate of €30 per tonne on purchases of dairy feed and €60 per tonne on purchases of milk replacer made in the first four months of the year.
  • Aurivo – No obligation to trade with stores, no bonus milk payment for trading. Aurivo has a loyalty scheme in place where shareholders purchasing feed and fertiliser from its stores receive €1 in vouchers for every €100 of purchases.
  • Arrabawn – No obligation to trade with stores, no bonus milk payment for trading. Arrabawn issues bonus shares on feed purchases.
  • Kerry - No obligation to trade with stores, no bonus milk payment for trading.
  • Lakeland - No obligation to trade with stores, no bonus milk payment for trading.

    • Paying extra for milk to suppliers who do a level of trade with their co-op still prevails among smallerco-ops. For example, Drinagh Co-op in Co Cork pays a 1c/l bonus on milk where purchases are greater than 10c per litre supplied.

    This drops to 0.5c/l for purchases amounting to between 8c/l and 10c/l supplied, falling to zero when the total of purchases drops below 8c.

    Total payments under the scheme amounted to €2m in 2023. With Drinagh’s milk purchases in the year at just over 210m litres, the payment suggests that almost all suppliers qualified for the full 1c/l bonus.

    The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the other west Cork co-ops have similar schemes in place.

    Larger processors have faced farmer resistance in the past when tying purchases to the milk price.

    In 2013 Lakeland announced that it would dock suppliers 1c/l for not buying their dairy feed requirements from the processor. The decision, which led to angry farmer meetings and threats of a boycott, was quickly reversed in the face of overwhelming opposition.