An intense lobbying campaign by ICOS and other Irish and European dairy sector interests is continuing in Brussels to secure changes to proposed regulations governing supply contracts between farmers and processors.

Amendments to the EU’s Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulations which have been tabled by European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen are opposed by ICOS and the European farmer and co-operative representative body COPA-COGECA.

The Commission’s proposals, which won broad support from the European Parliament, have now entered the trilogue process, where the council of ministers and the Danish presidency seek to find compromise positions.

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The Commission proposals would make supply contracts mandatory between farmers and all processors. However, ICOS and COPA COGECA want an exemption for co-ops from this requirement.

“Our problem with the specific contracts in the proposal is two-fold; firstly, that the duration is too short, effectively six months,” explained ICOS chief executive TJ Flanagan.

“This is way too short a contract for either a farmer or a co-op to base investment decisions,” he maintained.

“And secondly, the specific requirement in the proposal that the milk pricing decisions would be taken away from elected farmer directors and instead be calculated with reference to external indicators – this would not be in the farmers’ interests,” Flanagan claimed.

“The co-op model, whereby elected farmers meet monthly to get every last cent possible out of the market, while protecting the long-term stability of the co-op, is the one which has been in place for well over a century, and it has served farmers very well,” he said.

“We appreciate that the Commissioner was trying to solve problems in other sectors with this general contract proposal, but he’s trying to correct a problem that does not arise in the Irish dairy sector,” Flanagan said.

Commissioner Hansen has argued that his proposals will strengthen the position of farmers in the supply chain and offer greater protection to them.

It is understood that co-ops are being offered a derogation from the CMO contract proposals, but ICOS and COPA COGECA are holding out for an exemption from the rules.