Generational renewal is high on the agenda for Dairygold, with the co-op recently giving its milk supply manager Paul O’Connell the added responsibility of farm succession.
About half of the co-op’s milk suppliers are aged over 55, while the other half are under 55.
Interestingly, O’Connell maintains that there may be more young dairy farmers out there than official statistics would suggest, telling the Irish Farmers Journal: “There are young people on farms working away, but they may not be on the herd number or be listed as the milk supplier.”
Dairygold appointed O’Connell to help its farmers better manage the transition on farms.
“Succession is a process, not an event,” O’Connell explained. “It can’t be done in one sitting.”
The process varies depending on the circumstances involved, including age, whether the successor is married or unmarried and the farm involved.
O’Connell and the Dairygold team have noted a major rise in partnerships among their suppliers, with the number doubling in recent years, and in the last five years, a lot more companies being set up between parents and children.
The issue of co-op shares is one where planned transfers are important, he said, where parents are on a journey of scaling back their involvement.
Revenue allows a certain amount of shares to be transferred per year without capital gains tax being imposed and using this to gradually transfer co-op shares is of financial benefit, but also gives a positive signal to the new generation coming in.
“It gives them responsibility, not just being the worker on the farm, it gives them their own platform,” he explained.
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