The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has called for the newly announced strategic partnership between Aurivo and Dale Farm to "deliver for farmer suppliers".

Earlier today (Friday, March 20), the two dairy cooperatives confirmed a "strategic partnership".

The announcement today followed "detailed discussions" over recent months, with both co-ops - Republic of Ireland based Aurivo and Northern Ireland based Dale Farm - saying that now "is not the right time" to proceed with a full merger process.

The boards of both co-operatives have agreed to work together on projects, including by-product utilisation and added value protein, they said.

Commenting on today's announcement, ICMSA president Denis Drennan welcomed the greater co-operation between the two processors.

"It is quite clear that cost-savings and efficiencies can be made on the milk processing side and those will need to materialise," he said.

"Since September, dairy farmers have seen milk price collapse and milk suppliers, and not only milk suppliers, will see their incomes slashed in 2026 due to the market downturn," Drennan added.

The ICMSA president claimed that those in the processing sector are insulated from the market downturn.

"It is simply not sustainable for dairy farmers to continue to subsidise inefficiencies and every other link in the dairy supply chain," he said.

Drennan added: "This has to deliver for the farmer-suppliers and that's going to have to be reflected in the milk price paid by Aurivo Co-op.

"That's the only basis on which we'll be judging the proposed strategic partnership, as we'll be watching this very closely," he said.

Strategic partnership

Aurivo and Dale Farm told Agriland that, building on the close working relationship developed between the entities over the past five years, the partnership will "enable both organisations to maximise synergies, optimise market opportunities and drive operational excellence".

A steering group with representation from both cooperatives is being set up to guide the strategic partnership.

Work on the initial projects identified will begin immediately, they said.