THE decision last week by Arrabawn to close its facility in Kilconnell brings into focus the whole future of liquid milk production – not just in Galway –  but right across the country.

That’s the view of former IFA National Liquid Milk Representative, John Finn from Oranmore, who said that the retail pressure on liquid milk prices for the past 15-years were now taking their toll.

“Of course, our sympathy and concerns have to be with the employees of Arrabawn in Kilconnell as well as with the shops and businesses of the local village and region.

“It is a huge blow for any rural village to lose this kind of employment [c. 110 jobs] and the emphasis now must be on trying to replace it with some long-term enterprise.

“The reality of trying to produce liquid milk for 12 months of the year in a retail market where there was no price increase for 15 years is that this just cannot be sustained,” John Finn told the Farming Tribune.

He added that it was only since the war in Ukraine started that liquid milk prices increased (by 30 cent per litre) for the first time in the past 15-years.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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