The deputy president of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan has declared that he will be running to become the association’s next president.
Speaking after a national council meeting in Limerick today (Friday, September 15), Drennan told Agriland that he will “throw his hat in the ring” and run in the ICMSA presidential election in December.
Commenting that the environment has become a “huge issue” over the past number of years, Drennan, who has also chaired the ICMSA Farm and Rural Affairs Committee for the past six years, said:
“A huge number of national council members have rang me in the last week or two to know was I going to put my name forward and I said I would chat to a few more there today, so I am going to throw my hat into the ring and see what happens.”
He is the first declared presidential candidate, however there is no nomination process yet, and he hopes to meet more of the members at the National Ploughing Championships next week.
Speaking about his priorities as a presidential candidate, he said that milk price is “always the number one issue”, but also highlighted the importance of a science-based environmental debate.
ICMSA presidential election
A total of 101 national council members who have been elected from each county, will vote for the next ICMSA president at the council’s annual general meeting (AGM) this December, he said.
Drennan, who said that he has focused on the environment for the last six years as committee chair, believes that farmers recognise that emissions and water quality are the main issues at the moment.
He said that environmental issues are “certainly at the forefront of every dairy farmer’s mind at the moment” and that there is a “huge attitude out there that farmers are not doing enough”.
“The reality on the ground is that farmers are doing everything they possibly can to improve water quality, and [are] embracing every new technology that’s brought out to do their bit for the environment.
“Whether it is protected urea to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, whether it is low-emission slurry spreading (LESS) to reduce ammonia emissions or multi-species swards,” he said.
“Science has to be followed, there is no point in expecting that water quality is going to turn around in a year, which is what we have been expected to do.
“But the measures are being put in place to do our bit for the environment and to change the trend in water quality, but it is going to take time,” Drennan told Agriland.
“If we can continue to produce milk in the most sustainable fashion in the world and the most environmentally friendly way, that’s what we want to do.
“Whatever new methods or technology or whatever is available to us to use to increase our environmental awareness, we are willing to do that,” he added.
Food production
Highlighting the need for a “mature” conversation about food production, he said: “Asking farmers to produce food to a much higher standard and [in] a more environmentally sustainable system is no problem.
“Farmers are willing to do that but that doesn’t concur with the cheap food policy. You can’t have cheap food and highly nutritious and sustainable food – it can’t be produced in a cheap way.
“There is a disconnect at the moment between what the consumer thinks they should be paying for food and the actual cost of production.”
The current ICMSA deputy president said that the cheap food era is “pretty much over”, and that people must realise that environmentally sustainable food can’t be produced cheaply.
“The public has to make a decision – do they want environmentally friendly food or do they want cheap food. We had a cheap food policy for 40 or 50 years, and look where it has got us,” he said.