A group of dissident shareholders in Ireland's largest co-operative, Dairygold, failed yesterday to reverse a board decision to cut the price they were paying farmers for milk by 6p a gallon.
At a four-hour meeting in the Green Glens centre in Millstreet, Co Cork, attended by over 3,000 farmers, the rebel shareholders were defeated by 2,097 votes to 832 when they proposed to reverse the board's decision.
Another motion, aimed at freezing capital investment in the company, fell automatically with the defeat of the first motion.
The extraordinary general meeting had been forced by the dissidents, who had collected 550 signatures.
The decision to cut the milk price by 6p was taken at meetings earlier in the year. The reduction left the co-op 2p a gallon behind Kerry and 1p behind Golden Vale.
Dairygold producers have been paid more than others since the co-op was formed through the merger of Mitchelstown and Ballyclough societies in 1990.
It blamed falling market returns for the reduction.
The chairman, Mr Denis Cronin, expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the vote and said he read it as a vote of confidence in the board.
"The scene out there is that nobody owes us a living but we must preserve what we have achieved and be realistic about the modern world," he said.
He said the vote was an absolute endorsement of what the board was doing.
"It is easy enough to explain: when the shoe pinches anyone's foot, you are inclined to blame the child next door or the child near you who has given you the wrong shoe or whatever. That is a natural reaction in life," he said.
"Maybe we are inclined to blame the co-op for little bits of difficulties we might have as farmers, but we must be realists."
He said he was not surprised at the size of the vote of support for the co-op because they saw it as vital for themselves and their families.
"It was very inviting to vote for the motion seeking the restoration of 6p, but 97p excluding VAT is a realistic figure . . . more than a realistic figure," he said.
A spokesman for the dissident shareholders, who asked not to be named, said that the size of their vote showed that farmers were experiencing difficult times.
If the current difficulties persisted in farming the issue could be raised again.
He added that farmers were not going to "go away and die quietly".
Following the meeting, to which the media were not admitted, the director of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, Mr John Tyrrell, said he was satisfied with the outcome, which had been reached in a democratic way.
The chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association's national dairy committee, Mr Padraig Walshe, said now that shareholders had reaffirmed confidence in their co-op, Dairygold must put a plan in place to restore it to the traditional position as price-toppers in the milk league.
"In times of depressed dairy markets, milk suppliers will not be the soft target to prop up the processors' bottom line. Their milk must be processed more efficiently and into more products offering better and more secure long-term returns than basic commodities," said Mr Walshe.
There had been a tense build-up to yesterday's meeting, with some of the producers threatening to move their supplies to other companies.
Although Dairygold held a series of regional meetings to explain that it had to cut prices to reflect the returns it was receiving from falling market prices, the debate became bitter and heated in the run-up to the meeting.
However, there was no public warring at the meeting, but security was very tight at the equestrian centre where the 3,000 shareholders met.
They had to pass through security provided by the centre, made up almost entirely of male refugees from Kosovo who are living locally.
Then, passing into an inner hall, all shareholders were checked again by other security staff, and finally, all of them were individually checked against a shareholders' register.
The society had arranged buses to take the shareholders from all over Munster to the venue.