Payment for shares will be flexible, says Co-Op
He says around 1,200 of the Co-Op’s 3,100 suppliers will have to buy shares to bring their holding in line with their milk output.
“If a young farmer comes in to Jim Woulfe and says he cannot share up this year, Jim will bring it to the board, who will use their common sense,” said Mr O’Leary. “They may extend the period in which he has to share up. If the supplier can’t pay this year because he has a genuine case, then he can pay using year one of the revolving fund.
“If a young lad has just been given the farm by his father, he may need to buy a tractor this year. If he has a problem, he can sit down and talk with Con Murphy. If he says he’ll give over his single farm payment in October, then Con will accept that.”
Mr O’Leary also assured Dairygold members there will be no increase to their agreed contributions to the revolving fund, and that any changes which the Co-op may in due course make to the terms and conditions under the new milk supply agreement (MSA) will only be made with the best interests of milk suppliers in mind, consistent with the Co-Op ethos.
Following issues raised at last week’s heated meeting in Mallow hosted by opponents of the MSA, Mr O’Leary said he can see that the Co-Op needs to rebuild trust with some members, largely due to matters which predate the current board’s control.
He has spent two hours with five of the Kilcorney suppliers who were seeking to leave Dairygold. He believes they are now much happier with the Co-Op’s plans for the MSA. Similar feedback has been coming from the Co-op’s series of one-to-one meetings with its members.
A few weeks ago, Dairygold responded to its members concerns about the proposed 2cpl penalty for not meeting their forecasted output targets. The Co-Op dropped the penalty, replacing it with a bonus for meeting targets.
“People are worried about forecasting and penalties,” said Bertie O’Leary. Once the Co-Op is within 98% of its overall target volumes, there will be no issues for anyone. 2012 was the worst year in memory. My own farm is on heavy land in Ballyvourney and my cows were inside for two weeks in August.
“I was 20% short of target, but I still wouldn’t have faced any penalty under the terms of the new agreement because the Co-Op’s overall volume was reached. People have nothing to worry about with this new supply agreement.”
