The ICMSA has welcomed this week’s vote by the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee to adopt its Common Markets Organisation (CMO) report.

The report seeks to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain and has proposed mandatory written contracts between farmers and food processors.

However, ICOS has expressed reservations that the CMO report failed to fully recognise the unique position of farmer-owned co-ops in Ireland’s dairy sector.

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Following the vote ICOS said it would continue to engage with MEPs and EU institutions as the report advances, to “ensure that the final outcome recognises the important role of [Irish] farmer owned co-operatives in the system of milk production and supply”.

But ICMSA president Denis Drennan pointed out that almost every Irish dairy farmer supplying a co-op is doing so under a milk supply contract.

“The co-operative model works well in Ireland and a level of oversight on contracts should present no fears to our co-ops,” Drennan maintained.

“It is important that greater transparency is delivered on how a farmer’s milk price is determined and that supply contracts are fair to both the co-op and the farmer,” he insisted. 

“The protection of our primary milk producers should be the priority of our MEPs. If we don’t protect our farmers, we won’t have co-ops,” Drennan pointed out.

The CMO report was adopted by 33 votes to 10, with five abstentions, and now goes to the plenary session of the European Parliament next month.