Co-operating to help most hungry
When Horace Plunkett established the very first Irish agricultural co-op at Doneraile in Co Cork, the plight of the Irish farmer was not one to be envied. This was 1899, and although the British were set to give Irish tenant farmers their own land, few had the resources or expertise to take advantage of their new liberty.
The Irish agricultural co-operative movement, which today comprises 400 individual co-ops, helped farmers to diversify their crops, better manage their lands, and ultimately turn their impoverished smallholdings into international businesses. Without our agricultural co-operative movement, there would be no Kerry Group, no Glanbia, no Aryzta, and the world would have to live without Baileys Irish Cream and Kerrygold butter.
