Cork farm families milking it!

Cork farm families were paid €102 million by a farmer-owned food and nutrition business for milk supplied in 2022, it was recently announced.

Tirlán, formerly Glanbia Ireland and Glanbia Co-op, said payments of €1.9 billion were made to more than 5,000 family farm milk suppliers across the country which it said demonstrated “the huge importance of the farmer-owned co-operative as a major economic driver of the rural economy”.

CI Body Text: The data was released as the co-operative announced its first annual report and accounts as Tirlán, showing a revenue rise of 36% to €3 billion, primarily driven by strong ingredient sales internationally.

Tirlán CEO Jim Bergin said: “We are pleased to have delivered an excellent performance in our first year where we focused on building a strong independent organisation, with best-in-class governance structures and strong financial disciplines. The result is a vibrant organisation with 2,300 committed employees and over 5,000 dedicated farm families at its core.

“I want to thank them for their contributions and know that by working together we can achieve even more in the years ahead. While 2023 is proving challenging to date with a significant reduction in dairy market returns, combined with high farm input costs and supply chain inflation, we believe our co-op is well-positioned to navigate these challenges and support our farmer members.”

Speaking about the 2022 report and results, Tirlán Chairman John Murphy said 2022 was a milestone year for the co-operative business, its farmer members and more than 2,300 employees as it transitioned to a 100% farmer-owned business and unveiled its new identity.

“We are hugely ambitious for the future of our co-op. As always, we will face challenges, but we are determined to work hard to continue to deliver for the benefit of our members and all our stakeholders,” said Mr Murphy.

The co-operative said it reported record farmgate prices of 63cpl, including VAT, paid for milk, with green feed barley reaching €310 tonne. However, it said prices were mirrored by a sharp rise in farm input costs, with significant increases in energy, fertiliser and feed.

Tirlán described itself as the largest buyer and user of Irish grains and said it paid farmer members more than €100 million “with an excellent harvest boosting intake to 290,000 tonnes”.

A focus on a specialised premium grains portfolio delivered more than €3 million in premium payments to growers, it said.