Lakeland Dairies launches campaign on shareholding gender balance

Lakeland Dairies, the island’s largest cross border dairy co-operative, has launched a targeted campaign to encourage more women and other family members to become involved as shareholders in the co-op.

Currently some 12% of herd owners in the country are women but this does not reflect the huge, often unseen, work carried out in farm businesses by women.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Lakeland Dairies’ chairman Niall Matthews outlined the benefits of becoming involved in co-op shareholding.

“This is one of the most transformative times in the history of the co-operative movement. We are seeing considerable change coming to farming and with change comes opportunity. I’m a firm believer that having as many voices as possible from diverse backgrounds within our co-operative helps continually to foster progressive ideas and strategies.