Members

Towards a new partnership with our members

Towards a new partnership with our members In April 2008, the National Dairy Council launched Dairy for Life – A Strategy to Promote Irish Milk & Dairy Products 2008–2012. Dairy for Life outlines the NDC's vision of becoming an organisation relevant to consumers and industry and the NDC is currently engaged in a major process of restructuring and development in line with this. Our aim is to develop an organisation that delivers value to funders and stakeholders with a competent, efficient, effective organisation operating to a high standard of integrity and accountability.

Funding

The NDC is funded directly by a farmer levy, which currently stands at 0.07 cents per litre of milk produced. This equates to an annual payment of approximately €160 per annum for the average-sized dairy farm and is deducted from the monthly milk cheque and forwarded to the NDC by the co-ops.

The vision for the future of the NDC is an organisation that is respected, trusted and valued by its stakeholders and particularly its funders (i.e., dairy farmers). As with any business model, the need to constantly question, re-evaluate and update is essential to the success of the organisation and the NDC will be no different in that respect.

The National Dairy Council will consider the adoption of a recognised and accredited appropriate management system such as ISO to strive towards best practice in this respect. The adoption of such an approach would work to maintain standards within the organisation and demonstrate commitment to delivering value.

Communications

In addition, the need to communicate and demonstrate to stakeholders and funders the work of the NDC is recognised as a priority and appropriate mechanisms will be put in place to improve the overall visibility and communications with the industry. A key learning from the past is that it is critical that industry and farmers feel that they are involved and kept informed of the NDC's programmes.

The NDC must also work to gain the confidence and respect of consumers and other key stakeholders in the delivery of its programmes and this will be regularly monitored and assessed. The success of the strategy will be influenced by the perceived value of the work programmes.