Edition Bobbett1. Texts by Elizabeth F. Bobbett: 1.1.3. Correspondence, Letters to newspapers

1969 Elizabeth Bobbett: Letter to the Irish Independent, 29.03.1969

Rationalisation

I congratulate your writer Mr. Michael Sweeney on his article in the Farming Independent of March 15 on rationalisation of the creamery industry and how it will affect our dairy farmers.

While a lot of lip service is being paid to keeping the people in rural Ireland, it seems to be Government policy to take 14,000 people off the land every year, and to encourage the setting up of huge industrial plants.

For one moment I don’t believe that any industrial plant is set up for love of the farmers, but for their own profit and for any based on home produced raw material they will get it at lowest cost.

Now that we are told that butter is over produced in the EEC countries we have less incentive to produce butter for export. But we want more beef. Milk from the cow is the cheapest and best way to rear calves so why try to set up factories to process milk and sell the farmer back a milk substitute at far higher a price that his skim milk is worth.

Above all, don’t do away with the local creamery unit which mean so much to the rural folk. The human aspect is the most important for us.