Merger warnings lost in euphoria

NOW more than ever the shareholders of the Ballyclough and Mitchelstown Co-ops know how momentous a decision they made, to merge the societies in 1990.

As a result, Dairygold Co-op was established. It had a brand new logo and became the largest farmer owned food business in the country, with more than 6,000 milk suppliers at the time, and 2,500 employees. Ballyclough, founded in 1908, and Mitchelstown, incorporated in 1919, were food-processing giants in their own rights.

They paid the highest prices to their farmers for milk and other suppliers, enjoyed strong balance sheets and formed the economic bases of their respective communities.