National Dairy Council is good value for money for farmers, says new CEO

The National Dairy Council (NDC) has a job to do when it comes to communicating what it does for the farmers who fund it through the levy system, Emma Walls, the new CEO of the NDC has said.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, she said she believes that the NDC is good value for money for farmers.

“There’s a body of work that has been done and a real focus on shifting the public perception of farmers. That is something that I know farmers are very sensitive to. [I’m] very concerned that there is a mismatch between what they are doing on-farm and how they’re being represented externally, and what people may think about what they’re doing.”

The NDC boss said that farmers felt that they were being marked out as polluters when actually they are “breaking their necks” to introduce measures on farms in the face of uncertainty around the future of the nitrates derogation.

When asked if she would like to see the NDC levy become mandatory across the co-ops, she said while it would certainly make her life easier, such a move is wishful thinking.

“I think it’s the job of the NDC to demonstrate the value that is brings, so that all of the processors are knocking on our door and happy to fund the levy the way that it has been. Ultimately, it is a voluntary levy and I think that farmers will continue to subscribe in high numbers, and hopefully ever-higher numbers, if we demonstrate to them the value that we’re delivering.”

Lakeland Dairies is the only processor which is not a member of the NDC, while the levy is currently optional for Dairygold members.

The door is always open to Lakeland Dairies to join the NDC, she said.

“We really hope that they will see the value in it, they haven’t come on board yet. I can’t force that to happen, but I do intend to demonstrate the value going forward.”

On the arrangement with Dairygold, she said that the current deal is approaching an end and that the NDC anticipates that the Munster co-op would participate 100%. However, she said that this is a matter for the board of Dairygold, and she didn’t want to pre-empt what it would decide.

Project Connect

The NDC and the burgeoning Project Connect, an industry-led group which will advocate for all of agriculture and is estimated to cost €4m per annum to run, can co-exist, she believes.

“There’s a real necessity for a project like Project Connect for the benefit of all agriculture.

“But I think it’s fair to say that dairy is a bit ahead of the other sectors, because the NDC has been doing this work for quite some time.

“It would be far simpler if all co-ops were signed up to the NDC and the contribution was done that way. But I think it’s very important when the NDC gets behind Project Connect and lends its expertise to it, that it also ensures that there’s no duplication of farmer funds.

“I think that’s the issue that most occupies farmers – a concern that there will be investment made in setting up an organisation and the overheads that come with that, and they feel that they’re paying elsewhere,” she said.

“The NDC will be contributing money into Project Connect to produce work that the NDC is not currently doing,” she said.

Walls wants to steer the NDC to ensure that it’s fit for purpose for the future and she is mindful of the challenges that the sector is facing.

I think the farmers who are funding the NDC deserve no less than that. That’s a big ambition. It will take time to deliver. I don’t have the ability to deliver that overnight, but that is absolutely my ambition

“I would say my ambition for the team, and there’s an excellent team there, is that we become Ireland’s most effective advocates. Whatever sector you’re in, in the future, I want people to look to the NDC to say this is best in class in terms of how to advocate for a sector.

“I think the farmers who are funding the NDC deserve no less than that. That’s a big ambition. It will take time to deliver. I don’t have the ability to deliver that overnight, but that is absolutely my ambition and I’m deadly serious about it.”

Walls joined the NDC after a 16-year stint at Glenisk. She was warned about dealing with co-ops before taking up the role.

“I was warned that co-ops can be very political. I have to say that I have been embraced and welcomed and supported, I’ve been very happy with how that’s been to date.

“I certainly feel that part of this process is an education for me, so I’ve tried to spend as much of my time as I possibly can on farms.

“The co-operative piece is really important and the processors have been fantastic, but fundamentally the NDC is funded by farmers so I’m taking my instructions from the farmers,” she said.

She added that farmers have been really vocal and forthright in terms of what they want to see.

“The derogation is something that occupies them massively. I think that most of them are favourably disposed towards the NDC, but not always clear on what it is we’re doing on their behalf.

“I think the NDC is very much focused outward at trying to educate the general population about dairy and the way that farmers work, but we’re not always brilliant at talking to farmers, and letting them know what we’re doing with their money.

“To that end, I want to get better at that, so that they really appreciate the value that’s being provided.”

What will the next 10 years bring?

“I think we’re going to see 10 years of continued change. What we want to see is more certainty for farmers around regulations and decisions of the European Commission. Because I think that’s very difficult for farmers. The uncertainty makes investment really difficult for farmers who are trying to figure out slurry storage and make investments on-farm, but don’t know whether they’re going to lose the derogation.”

Walls said that farmers are not being given enough time to allow measures to have an impact on water quality.

“There are a lot of things that influence water quality and we’ve seen when we look back to what happened in 2018 – weather influences it. If we have a situation where farmers are taking all of the right steps and it augers well, but we are hit with a weather event that undos a lot of that good work, we have a difficulty.”

Devaluation of milk

Milk has been devalued on supermarket shop shelves, she added.

“There’s going to be ongoing work on how to add value to the raw material.

“We’re operating at a time when milk itself is being devalued and that’s a major cause for concern, considering that we have a product that delivers so much, but in such small volumes, and is very hard to replace in the diet; and yet it’s used a means of attracting people from one retailer to the other and I think that policy has damaged it.”