The Beef Plan Movement has been set up a limited company.

Recently filed documents seen by the Irish Farmers Journal state the company was established for the primary reason to protect and advance the interest of beef farmers.

It was set up with two directors, Eamon Corley and Hugh Doyle, both the founding members behind the movement.

While this company, which is limited by guarantee (CLG), will have the ability to acquire businesses, lands and property and take on debt if it decides to do so, the Irish Farmers Journal understands it will not be carrying out any commercial activities.

It is more likely that it will act as an umbrella company for other commercial activity companies if it moves into areas such as killing and marketing cattle.

The documents show that annual accounts shall be kept although it is likely they will be abridged and therefore limited in their detail

The group has said it expects to be involved in the direct marketing of beef in Ireland and abroad within six months.

It also wants to set up purchasing groups to include fertiliser, feed, seed, electricity, insurance, fuel, tags, and BVD samples.

It expects to pass all savings on to farmers, saying it will not look for commercial support when setting up these arrangements with specific suppliers.

The company will pay any expenses incurred in connection with its formation or in running it.

The documents show that annual accounts shall be kept although it is likely they will be abridged and therefore limited in their detail.

The Beef Plan Movement, which claims to have 15,000 registered farmers through its communications apps and website, has ambitions to attract 40,000 members in time. Currently farmers pay €10 each to register their interest and effectively this acts like a membership fee – although farmers are not (as yet) signed up as members, which would be typical in an association such as this.

Directors

From a governance point of view, the company has told the Irish Farmers Journal that while there are two directors at the moment, this was the minimum required to set up the legal entity.

It is envisaged this will be increased to include elected members in the future. It also intends to hold an annual general meeting.

If the group reaches its targeted 40,000 members, income will reach €400,000.

The group says it does not intend to seek additional funding from companies. It has one paid administrator with the rest of the work being carried out freely by committees, according to the group.

The legal entity is somewhat different to a traditional company in that a company limited by guarantee, is best suited to non-profit and member associations and does not have shareholders or shares.

This type of company protects members from any personal liability for debts.

In the event of the company being wound up, the members undertake to contribute a nominal amount towards any shortfall in the assets to settle its debts – usually €1.

Structures have been established at county, regional and national level. At county level there is a committee made up of chair, vice-chair, treasurer, secretary, registrar and public relations along with committee members.

There are six regions and there is a chair and vice chair for each region who sit on national committee. The national committee also has a chair (Eamon Corley), vice chair (Hugh Doyle) and treasurer (Moira Doyle). Ten sub-committees have been set up which include purchasing, producer, intelligence, animal health, genomics, strategy, stakeholders and public relations.