Kerry Group has long since moved on from its roots in the southwest of Ireland, and the sale of the dairy processing division back to the co-op was a natural evolution for the company.

What it leaves behind, other than the manufacturing facilities, is a huge amount of wealth which was created through the growth and development achieved from the risk taken by Co Kerry farmers in the early 1970s to the company, which is worth more than €16bn today.

The distribution of that wealth which we’re seeing passed back to members of the co-op over these pages is a measure of that success. We can see from the data presented here that many of the co-op shares have moved a long way from their dairy roots, with allocations going to every county in Ireland as well as much further afield, to places like Australia, Japan and Singapore.

Who's missing?

One interesting thing from the list of shareholders which stood out when analysing it was not who is on it or who got large payouts, but rather who is missing from the list. Some of the regions most-successful and ambitious dairy farmers supplying Kerry Co-op seem to be getting few or no shares in the plc.

This could be because they have cashed in their shares previously to fund expansion on their farms, or it could be because they never got the shares at all – it’s often said that one son or daughter gets the farm while the other children get the shares. That the majority of co-op shares were held by non-milk supplying members certainly backs this up.

For the new generation of farmers starting 2025 owning their own dairy processing for the first time there may be ambitions to match the previous generation’s huge success.