Dairygold’s Reox move criticised by Walshe

DAIRYGOLD Co-op has been accused by farmers’ leader Padraig Walshe of making the wrong move in separating profitable activities from milk processing when setting up its Reox subsidiary last year.

The IFA president said farmers would not accept such an arrangement, saying higher added-value products, property assets and return on overseas investments are being ring-fenced for the benefit of shareholders, an increasing number of whom are non-farmers.

At the IFA annual general meeting in Dublin he warned both Dairygold and Glanbia management to ensure that dairy farmers benefit from their overall business success, including more than €10 million which he said Glanbia earned in the past year by selling property assets that were build up by dairy farmers in the past.

“I am saying specifically to Glanbia and Dairygold: we will not accept any structure or arrangements that leave dairy farmers, who have built the business, relying on the commodity milk pool.”

He said Dairygold kept added value sections of its dairy business, such as sales divisions in Reox Holdings, when it was created last year. “I think it is wrong.”