Talks over the future of Greenfield Farm are ongoing after Glanbia and the Phelan family indicated they both want to pull out of the project 10 years into its 15-year term.

Glanbia is one of three equal partners in Greenfield Farm, along with the Phelan family and the Irish Farmers Journal.

The board of Greenfield Dairy Partners Ltd met on Monday, where Glanbia and the Phelans outlined their positions. No formal statement has been made following the meeting.

Glanbia chair Martin Keane said last week the co-op felt the project had “served its purpose”.

On Friday, a delegation of over 20 farmers met with Keane and other Glanbia representatives to urge the co-op to continue its role in Greenfield. However, the farmers also expressed an interest in taking over the processor’s share if it pulls out.

“If Glanbia steps away, we’d like to see a mechanism for how they could do that and how we could step in and take over their share,” one of the farmers told the Irish Farmers Journal.

On Wednesday, chair of the Agricultural Trust Matt Dempsey said: “We’ve made a proposal to the chair of Greenfield Dairy Partners Ltd Martin Keane that needs to be considered. We need to give shareholders time to consider all options.”

The Greenfield board is comprised of the landowners Eddie and Eamonn Phelan, Martin Keane and John Fitzgerald from Glanbia , with Jack Kennedy and Mike Magan, representing the Agricultural Trust.

An information day and opportunity to visit the farm has been announced for Tuesday 28 May, 2019.

Greenfield viewpoints

IFA

National dairy chair Tom Phelan said: “Greenfield has yielded important learnings, especially on the economics of milk production and the financial sustainability of even the lowest cost systems. However, since the start of the Greenfield project, the dairy industry has been faced with new demands in terms of sustainability, notably around environmental issues, water quality, climate change and breeding policy.”

ICMSA

President Pat McCormack said: “We have to recognise that circumstances have changed and the expansion model or conversion model that Greenfield was designed to test might not be the context we’ll be looking at going forward.Increasingly, it’s looking like a more precise environmental and financial sustainability model that relies less on the high-volume low-margin idea that was the inspiration for Greenfield is going to be the way forward.”

Teagasc

Director Dr Gerry Boyle said: “The lessons learned from the farm over the last 10 years, particularly by new entrants into spring milk production, have been enormous. It has provided a business template for a pathway into a career in dairying for many young farmers, while also demonstrating the application of best technologies for successful dairy farming.”

“Farmer discussions groups visiting the farm have always found take-home messages that could be applied on their own family farms,” he said.