Farmers seek to meet with Carbery chiefs over shares buy-back scheme
The company, an international manufacturer of food ingredients, flavours, and cheeses, is seeking to recover shares issued to former milk suppliers.
Following a public meeting in Dunmanway on Monday night, farmers requested the meeting with board chairman Derry Connolly from Drinagh and another representative of the Ballineen-based Carbery.
The company decided, under a milk supply share scheme, farmers who have ceased supplying milk for more than three years will be required to sell their shares by the end of 2015 if they do not resume milk supply before then.
“This is not a new departure as, since 2002, Carbery Group has held the right to call in shares from farmers who no longer supply milk,” the company said in a statement.
“This new scheme is more favourable in that it gives people a three-year window to go back into milk supply if they so wish.”
The company said farmers who do not intend to resume milk supply before the end of 2015 could sell their shares any time over the three years. The price will be dependent on the share price of that particular year.
The company said: “After they sell their shares, their successors, like other young farmers among the four West Cork co-ops, will be welcome to supply milk to Carbery as new entrants.
“This will give them the opportunity to acquire shares in the company which will secure access to Carbery’s processing capacity, give them ownership in their processor and gain a potentially valuable exit payment when they retire from farming.”
However, some farmers are opposing the move. James Connolly, one of the organisers of the meeting, said: “Basically we don’t want to sell our shares. We’re writing to the chairman to ask him and another representative to have a meeting with farmers.”
Mr Connolly said most farmers who attended the meeting had ceased milk production while others were planning on ceasing milk production and did not want to have to sell their shares when the time came.
Acknowledging he now understood farmers had a number of years to sell their shares and did not have to sell their shares immediately, as he had previously believed, he said: “The fact still remains that we have to sell something which is our property.”
