The outcome of the vote at Friday’s Glanbia special general meeting (SGM), which will see farmers take full control of Glanbia Ireland, is a milestone event, according to Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) dairy chair Stephen Arthur said.
“The largest milk processor in the country is now in the hands of its farmer shareholders. The emphatic result shows that farmers want to have control of their destiny and their livelihoods,” he said.
“We have always said a co-op structure serves farmers better than a plc model. The co-op structure ultimately gives more latitude to the board to support its farmer suppliers,” he said.
Onus on the board
Arthur said the onus on the board and the management is to pay a strong price to farmers that secures their livelihoods.
They also have to run the business efficiently and leanly, so it can maintain a market-leading return to its suppliers while remaining profitable, he said.
IFA grain chair Mark Browne said grain farmers will also expect the new model to pay a market-leading price for the crops supplied by farmers.
Glanbia Co-op on Friday agreed to become the sole owner of Glanbia Ireland, following the SGM which saw over 80% of the over 4,500 attending co-op shareholders vote in favour of five linked resolutions.
Voting took place following a two-hour Zoom meeting chaired by Glanbia Co-op chair John Murphy.
SHARING OPTIONS