A meeting has taken place between the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and Dairygold regarding the co-operative’s loyalty scheme.

An IFA delegation led by association president Francie Gorman met with Dairygold chair Pat Clancy and CEO Michael Harte on Monday. Following the meeting, Gorman said that co-op trading schemes should not be linked to milk price.

“We understand that Dairygold is having a round of meetings of their six regional committees this week to review the scheme, and I fully expect that they will get a strong message from farmers that trading schemes should not be linked to milk price,” he said.

“It is important that the co-op takes on board the views of their farmers and adjusts their schemes to reflect that feedback.”

Meeting

The IFA delegation also included current dairy chair Stephen Arthur, incoming dairy chair Martin McElearney along with director general Damian McDonald, director of policy Tadhg Buckley and dairy policy executive Aine O’Connell.

The association said that it has been lobbying Dairygold on the issue of the loyalty scheme since December and has urged farmers to speak to their local co-op representatives about their concerns.

“There is a huge amount of frustration amongst suppliers about this loyalty scheme and the milk price being paid by Dairygold. However, now is the time to give the democratic structure within the co-op the opportunity to work,” Gorman added.

“While it is understandable that some of the frustration amongst suppliers has boiled over, the issue should be dealt with through the Dairygold’s regional structure and farmers should make their locally-elected reps aware of their views,” he said.

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