Macra defends Glanbia vote

Macra na Feirme has moved in defence of the yes vote surrounding the Glanbia saga.

The organisation’s president, Alan Jagoe said that the favourable vote by Glanbia shareholders for the joint venture and the related share dilution to properly fund the initiative, provided a unique opportunity for growth and development within the dairy sector.

“Macra views this proposal as a tremendous opportunity for young farmers as it paves the way for growth post quota, by providing the processing capacity for a potential 60% expansion of milk supply up to 2020,” he said. 
“Young dairy farmers are enthusiastic about the future, and as we know, we can produce quality milk in a sustainable manner and as cost effectively as anyone. Once quotas go in 2015, we can grow our businesses.”

Macra’s president went on to say that it was imperative that the Irish dairy industry became more prepared for such growth and pointed to the development of Glanbia’s €180m state of the art processing facility in the South East, which Jagoe said, was, “essential to capitalising on this growth”.

“Critically, this new joint venture will have the single focus of processing milk to produce a range of value products to sell globally as demand for dairy related products is set to steadily grow for the foreseeable future,” he added. “Farmers and their processors must work closer together to build world class dairy businesses - delivering strong milk prices to farmers, while being highly competitive in global markets.”