Dear Editor,

I am a Dairygold supplier who felt I had no option but to attend the meeting about the co-op in the Firgrove in Mitchelstown on 13 January.

It was attended by over 300 suppliers who felt they had no voice as our reps on the committees were not being listened to by board and management.

The annual information meetings were cut from six to three and questions were only allowed after all speakers were finished.

According to our reps, the linking of the annual milk price bonus to the trading level, equivalent of 6c/l loyalty bonus, was snuck in at the last minute.

That the board was tone deaf to concerns of committee and suppliers shows that the representative structure is broken. Hence the huge turnout at the meeting.

I feel the IFA should have backed farmers on this instead of coming to Mitchelstown, meeting the co-op and not meeting any farmers, many of whom are members of IFA.

Then the IFA effectively backed the Dairygold rep structure which isn’t working for suppliers, in my opinion. Why didn’t the IFA involve itself before now and be a more positive influence in the process?