Carbery committed to protecting supply chain

MILK collection across the four West Cork co-ops of Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird remains undisrupted despite the spread of Covid-19.

Carbery Group said their focus is on protecting the global supply chain, and they  have business continuity plans in place to respond to the situation as the crisis evolves.

At Carbery’s processing plant in Ballineen, as is the case in hundreds of other businesses in West Cork, measures are in place to safeguard workers. A company spokesperson said: ‘Our critical priorities are the health and wellbeing of all Carbery Group employees, and the maintenance of our production. We understand our role as part of an important global food supply chain, which is essential to protect during this crisis.

‘Production is currently continuing, with necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our employees, suppliers and customers. We have experienced no disruption in supply or distribution to date but we are monitoring the situation closely. Business continuity plans are in place should this situation change.

‘We are also in regular contact with government and industry bodies and following their advice. We will continue to monitor the situation and respond to changes as they arise.’

Chairperson of Carbery, TJ Sullivan, added: ‘As farmers, we are especially busy at this time of year, which is probably a helpful distraction from the constant feed of worrying news we hear daily. Social distancing is much easier for farmers who spend most of the time out in the open air, but we must adhere to the HSE guidelines when meeting people, wherever they are, even in the middle of a field.

‘Life has to go on and this will end. If we all dig deep, this hopefully will happen sooner rather than later.’

Meanwhile, Carbery announced it is maintaining its current milk price for February supplies at 32.4c per litre, which includes 0.5cpl support from their stability fund.