Owners must keep eyes on the ball
Liam O'Flynn, a Glanworth, Co Cork farmer and shareholder, said last week that members were not alert to the composition of the board, and this was the root of the troubles that led to the Mallow meeting.
"If farmers take their eye off the ball and vote people onto the board who don't deserve to be on it, it's their own co-op that is going to suffer, as we know only too well," he said.
Mr O'Flynn was one of a group of ten farmers who publicly challenged the co-op's directors for not publishing an agenda for the AGM on July 1, and called for support for the motion of no confidence in the board.
A former management committee member himself, he said that 15 years ago, he saw people "groom" themselves for the board of the newly formed Dairygold Co-op.
"I have seen people who were very outspoken on various issues until they got on the board and then suddenly went very quiet. The whole structure needs to be overhauled."
"This is a wake-up call to farmers. They cannot be just interested in what goes on in their own farms, and be indifferent to how the co-op business is conducted," he said.
"Too often farmers are considered to be at the end of the chain, but what should be remembered is that we own the co-op," said Mr. O'Flynn.
Now is the time for farmer-directors to adopt a more businesslike approach to their own co-op, after last year's substantial drop in operating profits of more than €20 million, and pre-tax profits tumbling by almost 80% to €2.71 million, from €13.25 million in 2001.
It is one of the country's biggest multi-purpose businesses, with more than 8,000 shareholders, over 3,000 employees and with an annual turnover of almost €989 million.
The new directors now have to come to terms with a business embarking on a new strategy.
As such, they have the same responsibilities as directors of any other business.
They will have to grapple, as a matter of course, with issues like financing, capital investment, and in the current climate at Dairygold, industrial relations problems, to mention just a few.
To help them deal with precisely such matters, ICOS and /UCC established a Joint Director Development Programme three years ago. In collaboration with Enterprise Ireland, they adapted a Diploma Programme to the needs of farmer directors of dairy co-operatives.
Seamus O'Donohoe, Secretary of ICOS, explained that the one-year course costs €9,000, which is split between ICOS and Enterprise Ireland.
Now in its third year, the course is relatively new, and its impact on how participants apply it in practice is too early to judge. But a look at its broad ranging curriculum reveals the depth of knowledge a farmer needs to take on a co-op directorship on behalf of fellow shareholders.
The course includes communication skills and communications technology; strategic analysis; planning and business development; corporate governance; dairy product and process developments and innovations; international food marketing and global trade policy, as well as financial analysis; leadership, decision making and human resource management.
The programme is targeted at those farmer directors of dairy co-operatives and co-operative plcs wishing to improve their knowledge of business leadership, strategy and organisation. A third level qualification is not a necessary prerequisite for entry to the Programme.
It is organised in a modular format with seven domestic modules of one and a half days duration and one overseas module of five days.
A number of different locations suitable to the delegates are chosen to present the workshops.
The overseas workshop consists of five days studying aspects of the international dairy market and site visits to processing plants, retail outlets and meetings with directors and executive management from a number of American co-operatives.
In addition to attending the scheduled workshops, participants are required to complete a research project relevant to their own co-operative, on a topic of their choice from the material presented at the workshops.
They also have ongoing contact with programme tutors to assist them with their chosen project.
Participants who successfully complete the co-operative project to the satisfaction of the Academic Directors and an external examiner are awarded a Diploma in Corporate Direction from University College Cork.
To qualify for the course, a person has to be an existing practicing director of a co-op.
Some are graduates of university or agricultural college, some are not but what they all have in common is that they are farmer leaders.
"The participants are farm leaders interested in the cutting edge of strategic thinking. That is their clear understanding," said Seamus O'Donohoe.
Participants come from all over Ireland to the course anchored around UCC, which includes a week-long study period in the University of Wisconsin.
The objective of the course is to ensure that farmer directors play a more influential and effective role in making their businesses more competitive, through the development and refinement of their board management skills.
