DEAR SIR: In light of the tillage crisis which has received a lot of press and lip service from a variety of parties I would like to highlight the following for all concerned. This past week, 2016 grain prices have been finalised by both Glanbia and Dairygold. Glanbia has taken in over 190,000t of grain from harvest 2016, making Glanbia the largest buyer and user of native Irish grain as claimed by Glanbia chair Henry Corbally.

Mr Corbally is quoted as saying “Glanbia fully appreciate the challenging situation facing Irish grain growers in the fourth successive year of weak global grain markets. The co-op’s aim for the past number of years was to move grain into more specialised markets and therefore increasing the price. Our strategy for a number of years has been to move as much grain as possible out of commodity markets and into premium niche categories. Over 40% of our total intake now attracts some level of premium or bonus. This is a far higher proportion of overall grain contracted than any other merchant in the country”.

A saint among grain growers! I would ask the reader to question these statements and sort out the fact from the fiction. As the largest buyer, are Glanbia prices wrong by €10/t? In other words, is the price of grain in the domestic market short by €10/t?

The Glanbia member price in most cases is equal to the general domestic market. If that is true, is Glanbia misleading its members and non-member suppliers? In order to be a qualified member supplier, there are a number of criteria, one being you must hold a minimum number of qualified shares. This number costs a substantial sum. Are members paying for their support price on grain and their discounts on inputs? If this is so, they are effectivly getting no bonus and no real discount.

If you are a small shareholder (less than €1,000) and do not qualify for the members’ support, how big a cheque do you have to write to qualify? A comparison between the published Glanbia and Dairygold harvest 2016 prices highlights the points raised. Dairygold would appear to be the proper price makers. Grain suppliers to Glanbia must ask themselves why they have made Glanbia the biggest buyer of Irish grain. Do they have cause for complaint over price in doing so? Maybe they are far wiser than this writer.