North Cork Creameries is changing the rules around 13th milk payments, according to a letter seen by the Irish Farmers Journal.

In the letter to milk suppliers on Thursday, CEO and company secretary Pat Sheahan stated that only suppliers who spend more than 6c/l with the co-op in 2025 will be eligible for any supplementary milk payment in 2026.

The move mirrors the failed plan by Dairygold Co-op to limit any full supplementary milk payments, 13th payments or top-ups to suppliers who spend more than 6c/l with Dairygold, a measure now scrapped in the face of massive backlash and public meetings.

However, the plans by North Cork Creameries goes further, because the letter states that anyone who doesn’t reach that 6c/l threshold won’t be eligible for any payment, whereas Dairygold had planned to pay 50% of the top-up.

The letter to North Cork Creameries suppliers states that the decision was agreed by the board of North Cork and goes on to say that it “is a positive initiative designed to acknowledge and reward trade with your co-operative”.

Loyalty bonus schemes are nothing new when it comes to co-ops, but the initial move by Dairygold and now North Cork Creameries is different in that it affects core milk price, as opposed to bonuses.

Performance

Co-ops will often pay out a milk price top-up at the end of the year or a few months into the following year based on the performance of the business and most members view these payments as deferred milk price.

The decision by the board of North Cork Creameries is designed to shore-up trade with the agri-business section of the co-op among milk suppliers who may have been buying farm inputs elsewhere.

For a typical supplier with 500,000 litres of milk annually, they would need to spend €30,000 with the co-op in order to qualify for any top-up payments.

In this case, if 1c/l of a top-up is agreed by the board in spring 2026, then the farmer would receive €5,000 if they spent more than €30,000 in the co-op, and nothing if they spent less.