A clear majority of the 2,000 members attending the Dairygold Special General Meeting in Mallow last week voted in favour of progressing the Society’s post quota plan. An overwhelming majority of 80% to 20% voted in a secret ballot of up to 1,930 members for the Post Quota Plan and gives the Dairygold Board and management a clear mandate to proceed, with confidence, in implementing the plan.

In addition to this, members overwhelmingly voted to retain testing of milk internally in the Society’s accredited laboratory in Mallow.

With the end of quotas in April 2015 now less than two years away it is important that the plan is progressed. Some 85% of Milk Supplier members have already signed up to the new Milk Supply Agreement and those members who have yet to sign can do so up to the end of April and benefit from the 0.35c litre bonus on their entire 2012 milk supply.

The Post Quota Plan will be implemented in accordance with the forecasts made in association with the Milk Supply Agreement. Members who choose not to sign will continue to have their milk collected with the base volume set at the higher of 2012 milk volumes or quota, anything in excess must be treated as unplanned milk that the Society will have to process elsewhere if it has insufficient capacity internally.

Dairygold does not wish to see any Milk Supplier Member having to accept a diminished milk price and the Board is therefore urging all Milk Supplier Members to accept the democratic will of the SGM and to sign up to the Milk Supply Agreement as soon as possible. Any members who might require assistance with forecasting or who have other difficulties in relation to the Post Quota Plan should contact the Society without delay and they will be assisted as part of the one-to-one consultation process.