The local dairy industry has won a reprieve in urgent issues that earlier this week threatened to put the industry in jeopardy.
CEO of Banks Holdings Limited and director of the Pine Hill Dairy, Richard Cozier, announced yesterday afternoon he had cancelled planned layoffs for Pine Hill Dairy staff and had also called off a plan to cease collection of milk from farmers on a week-on week-off basis, as he had indicated Wednesday.
Upset farmers rushed to the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday morning after learning from Cozier of his plans to collect their fresh milk on a week-on week-off basis and to shut down the milk plant accordingly, a move that would have affected 100 Pine Hill Dairy staff.
But a meeting between Minister of Agriculture Dr David Estwick, the farmers and Cozier yesterday morning led Cozier to declare at an afternoon media briefing that “Christmas has come early this year certainly for our staff and the farmers and, hopefully within the next week or so, for the consumers as well”.
