One man’s vision

Sir Horace Plunkett, third son of Baron Dunsany of
Co. Meath (1854-1932) was one of the great agricultural reformers and a pioneer of agricultural co-operatives. Founder of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), the forerunner of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society Limited, which continues to operate today, he also inspired the founding of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association. IAOS also laid the foundations for our Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Sir Plunkett was way ahead of his time, not only in relation to agriculture, but in his determination to help alleviate poverty and living conditions in the west and northwest regions of Ireland.
During a period in America, he experienced the benefits of farmers coming together to sell their produce. Also having seen the success of consumer cooperatives in Rochdale (a small town in the north of England, now part of Greater Manchester), he set about persuading small farm holders to become self-reliant and support his efforts to replicate what he had seen in America and the Rochdale experiment. His first success was in Doneraile, Co. Cork and the first creamery in Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick, preparing the ground for Avonmore and Kerry Group and other large co-operatives. Today, sadly, in my opinion, farmers have lost the control of Plunkett’s vision set up to give producers a decent price for their produce. By selling their shares in the co-operatives they gave up any influence they might have had on the market price.

Concern for small farmers

Those who read this column in the July issue will be aware of my concerns for small farmers who are being squeezed out of traditional farming and into environmental farming. Do they have the wisdom or courage to look at Plunkett’s vision and turn to their neighbouring small farmers and form co-operatives to benefit from economies of scale and be better able to compete with the larger farmer holdings that receive the lion’s share of CAP payments. Do we have amongst us a modern-day Horace Plunkett with the vision and charisma to lead a flock of struggling farmers to the promised land? 

The good residents of Sixmilebridge in Co. Clare recently erected a statue in honour of former resident Brendan O’Regan, innovator of many industrial and tourism developments, including duty free purchases at Shannon airport (the first of its kind and taken up worldwide), Shannon Free Zone and the International School of Hotel Management to name but a few. Maybe we should look at renaming Agriculture House as Plunkett House? Maybe some of his vision might rub off on the policy makers as they decide the future for small farmers and agricultural contractors.

Vision of co-operation 

I remember the excitement I felt, as a youngster, on the day when all the neighbours descended on my grandfather’s farm on their bicycles, with their scythes over their shoulders, ready to pitch in and cut the hay. The next day, we would all head off to another neighbour to do the same. Agricultural contractors, in many ways, have followed on with this vision of co-operation in the way they provide machinery services to multiple farms in their areas. The have become one-man co-ops, in a sense.