For those of us not in dairying, the existence of co-ops and the role they play in sustaining livelihoods and providing services almost passes us by.

But at this time of the year annual results for 2024 come out and we are reminded of some key players, most of whom were founded in the 50s to 70s period including the IFA, and have left an indelible mark on Irish agriculture.

While we take the marts for granted and the co-existence of both private and co-operative, we can easily overlook the insurance sector.

FBD was set up after a fund-raising drive in the late 1960s to provide farmers and the broad agri sector with a farmer-owned entity that could cater for farmers’ insurance needs.

Around the same time, Cork Co-op Marts launched a much bigger fund-raising drive to purchase the IMP (International Meat Packers Group), by far the leading beef processors in the country at the time. IMP failed, FBD survived and, after a few hiccups, is now visibly prospering.

FBD, like all the co-ops that went down the stock exchange quoted route, has eventually ended up with two very distinct businesses: the specialist quoted insurance company, which is now returning annual profits of approximately €100 million, and what was the old co-op, confusingly called FBD plc, which is holding its AGM next week. It is now largely a hotel dominated group and will report profits of approximately €36 million for 2024 – by far its highest ever figure.

While its shares are not quoted, they can be traded on a so-called grey market and they pay a dividend that has markedly increased in recent years.

Meanwhile, on the processing side, the quoted Glanbia has Tirlán as a major shareholder but it is a totally member co-op. Kerry Co-op or Kerry Dairy Ireland is now a full co-op after its recent separation from Kerry group.

The other major agri service organisation is ifac, the farm accountancy body. This in many ways has grown under the radar but is now a significant business with 550 employees and has taken over a number of provincial accountancy practices.

So far it has distributed its profits by way of bonus shares to its members which is how many of the dairy societies originally built up their capital.

Ifac was founded only a few years after FBD but its structural evolution has been very different and it will be interesting to see if this difference continues or whether its user members will continue to prioritise its accountancy and tax services over shareholder dividends.