FDBusiness.com

Dairygold is to create 115 jobs in Cork as part of a multi-million expansion of its dairy processing facilities in Mallow and Mitchelstown.

The farmer owned dairy co-operative is investing €83.5 million in the regeneration of its milk processing site at Mallow, and a further €33.5 million upgrading the Castlefarm dairy processing complex in Mitchelstown.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, said the investment will create 115 new full-time jobs in operations, as well as 400 temporary construction jobs.

“Crucially, according to an economic impact study, it will also support more than 1000 additional knock-on jobs in the wider economy over the next five years, as suppliers take on extra staff to meet the increased demand. These are real, much-needed jobs in a rural area, which will provide opportunities for young people who want to get involved in farming and live in their local area,” he added.

Dairygold is Ireland’s largest farmer owned dairy co-operative, processing over 960 million litres (20 per cent of Ireland’s milk pool) in 2013, to produce a range of cheese and dairy ingredients for export to more than 50 countries.

From next April Ireland’s dairy farmers will be free to produce as much milk as they wish following the abolition of EU dairy quotas and Dairygold’s 3,000 milk suppliers have forecast to increase annual milk production by up to 60 per cent by 2020. This equates to an increase of 600 million litres per annum and requires a major expansion in Dairygold’s processing capacity.

“Our post-quota strategy not only ensures that we will have the capacity in place to process all of our members’ milk in the post-quota era but it also significantly improves our technological capability allowing us to produce higher value dairy ingredients ,” Dairygold chief executive Jim Woulfe said.

Dairygold’s €33.5 million investment has expanded and upgraded the co-op’s milk processing facilities at the Castlefarm dairy processing complex in Mitchelstown which can now process in excess of 16 million litres of milk and a further 18 million litres of whey per week.

The €83.5 million Mallow investment will redevelop the existing dairy processing site to deliver a world-class dairy processing facility that can produce a suite of dairy ingredient milk powders up to infant milk formula standards.