Tirlán Farmer Information Meetings 2023

Agribusiness All Co-op Beef Corporate Dairy

Farmer Information Meetings for Co-op shareholders and suppliers held across five regions were very well attended over the past week and over 420 logged on and watched an online meeting hosted to facilitate those unable to travel.

The regional Information Meetings provided shareholders and suppliers with an opportunity to engage directly with Tirlán management and Board members in person in Dungarvan, Kilkenny, Portlaoise, Navan and Enniscorthy.

Suppliers and shareholders also submitted dozens of questions by text and email for the online session held on Tuesday evening and broadcast live from the co-op’s new headquarters at Abbey Quarter in the heart of Kilkenny city.

Each Meeting included short presentations from Chairman, John Murphy, Chief Executive, Jim Bergin, and Chief Operating and Consumer Officer, Jim O’Neill. Exchanges in the open questions and answers sessions were honest and robust as suppliers and shareholders probed key issues of interest to them and developments in 2022, a landmark year for our 100% farmer-owned co-operative.

Most prominent were questions on the Fixed Milk Scheme and calf welfare, sustainability, fertiliser price and trends as well as rising input costs on farm, farmer advocacy and Climate Action.

Speaking afterwards, Chairman, John Murphy said: “It was great to get back out meeting our farm family suppliers and shareholders. This is an historic time for our 100% farmer-owned Co-op. We listened to our members. We want to reassure them that we will take their comments on board. Our suppliers are passionate about what they do on farm and they too share our enthusiasm about the future.

“We were delighted to have such strong engagement from our suppliers who take great pride in the work they do every day. There were many very good suggestions made in areas such as calf welfare and sustainability and we will be take these on board as we plan for the year ahead.”

Employees from the Co-op Shares Office, FarmGen, the Sustainability Action Payment section and other relevant farmer and customer facing areas hosted stands and liaised with suppliers and shareholders before and after each session. Each reported keen interest and are following up with suppliers and shareholders on their queries.