Covid-19 having an effect on the Irish Dairy Industry
Sylvester Phelan of AgriLand recently wrote about the state of Dairy Farming in the current Coronavirus pandemic. The Dairy Industry is battling the implications of the Covid-19 crisis, aiming to keep milk processing at its current levels. The Dairy Industry Ireland (DII), has issued a series of stark warnings on the matter.
Warnings of loss of key staff and/or mechanical failures are of great concern as they may have a severe impact on the Dairy Industries ability to keep processing capacity at its peak.
Commenting on the challenge, DII director Conor Mulvihill praised the efforts of the processors to date, stating: “This is a national issue – not confined to any one co-op.
There has been massive industry collaboration across processors, Government and farmers as we fight to keep milk collected and processed.
– Conor Mulvihill
The director highlighted that the spread of Covid-19 has resulted in “enormous logistical efforts” to safely collect milk even to date, ahead of the peak period.
The industry is facing the challenge of engaging in contingency planning. As the crisis continues to grow, anticipation is that challenges will lie ahead to maintain factory processing within the dairy industry. The fragile nature of the Irish dairy infrastructure (even despite Covid-19 crisis) may result in serious consequences for production lines.
The director of DII warned that processing difficulties have been reported with dairy industry colleagues in Italy, Croatia and France – but added that efforts are underway to avoid similar issues here.
We are actively working with our regulatory authorities to guide us on what we can do in the event that we cannot collect or process milk.
– Conor Mulvihill
“DII is working with Government and at EU level to communicate Irish dairy’s unique exposure to the crisis, underlining the long-term financial health of our companies and suppliers,” – Conor Mulvihill
At Terra NurtiTECH we are determined to keep our customers’ farms operating at peak efficiency. We aim to maintain services where possible and will adhere to all Government guidelines regarding social distancing where appropriate.
If you have any queries regarding our services at this time, please call Ronan on 087 7086714.