I’ve been thumbing through the annual reports of international dairy processors and it seems the corporate affairs and public relations team of Ireland’s largest processors are afraid to use the words “farmer” and “milk” when portraying their company image to the wider world.

In Glanbia’s 203-page annual report, the word farmer appears just 10 times, with milk appearing 63 times.

In contrast, FrieslandCampina’s 175-page report mentions farmers 161 times and milk 415 times.

Fonterra also has a strong focus on the farmer, mentioning him or her 214 times and milk 245 times.

Interestingly, Glanbia mentions investor 36 times, which is almost four times more than the person who allows them to create the value.

With Dairy Ireland now spun out, will the farmer even get a mention next year?