North Cork Creameries is being called on to hold an annual general meeting (AGM) to provide clarity to its milk suppliers.

Conor O'Leary, Munster Regional chair of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), told Agriland that suppliers are eager to hear about the current financial status of the co-op.

"What I'm hearing it's really overall concern about the direction of where things go and that farmers are really left hanging for information.

"That's the difficult part about it, even as regards movements that may or may not have happened last night even.

"But, from a reasonable point of view, you'd have to be really concerned that the AGM, which should have been held long before now, hasn't been held, that farmers themselves don't really have sight of how the financial situation [is] in the co-op.

"It's a real concern for themselves around their own businesses as well, particularly," he said.

North Cork Creameries

O'Leary said that North Cork Creameries, which has been in business since 1928, is "hugely important" to both suppliers and the Kanturk area.

"I know many of the farmers locally there. I go to the mart there myself.

"They really do have a real sense of sort of responsibility towards the town as well.

"It's something dear to their hearts, not only from their own business, but the fact that it was a standalone co-op in their own area for so long.

"It's doing without this information now is really killing them. Even when they're ring board members, they're not getting any information from them," he said.

2026 has been a difficult year for North Cork Creameries after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suspended the co-op's licence to discharge water from its wastewater treatment plant.

The EPA confirmed that it had lifted the suspension of North Cork Creameries' discharge licence in July.

North Cork Creameries reached an agreement with Carbery in April on a new commercial milk supply agreement.

While the details of the deal were not disclosed for "commercial reasons", the co-op said the agreement "will assist in providing certainty for North Cork Creameries’ milk suppliers by having a dedicated processing outlet for their milk".

Information

The Munster IFA chair stressed the importance of messaging and clarity to suppliers from the co-op.

"It's a very difficult time for them, no doubt, but they have got to communicate to their farmers.

"Their farmers run big businesses themselves. It's based on supplying a co-op that's financially well off, but more so it's just that they need to know for their own point of view, where they're going over the next number of years.

"They're not getting any clarity whatsoever around that," he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) told Agriland: "It is important that the board communicates directly with their suppliers in relation to its governance and future plans".

Meeting

Agriland understands that the board of North Cork Creameries held its monthly meeting last night (Tuesday, October 20), following which Gerald Burns is no longer the chair of the co-op.

Just last week a message was sent to suppliers confirming that Burns had been elected as the new chair.

The move followed a decision by Thomas O'Donoghue to step down from the position.

This was the second time that O'Donoghue had resigned as chair of the co-op in recent months. In March, he decided to remain in the position having previously indicated his intention to step down.