Twenty20 Beef Club nominated for European Award

Glanbia Ireland’s Twenty20 Beef Club initiative has been nominated for the European Award for Cooperative Innovation competition organised by Cogeca, under the ’Economic Value Creation’ category.

The innovative Twenty20 Beef Club was developed with the core purpose of improving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of dairy calf-to-beef production to stronger financial returns and a more sustainable system for our Co-op Members and the farming community.

We partnered with Kepak Group (beef processor) to ensure the product was brought to the target premium markets. The strong focus on premium markets spurred our joint decision to submit a comprehensive proposal under the ‘Economic Value Creation’ category in particular.

We’re proud of what we have achieved to date under the Twenty20 Beef Club fully integrated Calf-to-Beef programme. A fully traceable input supply chain underpins the Programme, delivering a closed loop which is appealing for major retail and food service customers, and supporting the establishment of industry leading standards.

To date the Club has attracted the target number of cattle. In the next phase, the Club is aiming to bring in 50,000 additional calves in its third year.

One of the key points that has strongly interested and directly benefited farmers is the additional value created by sustainably producing beef, with complete input traceability and transparency.

The finalists in each category will be announced at the end of February. The Jury will then make its final decisions.  MilkFlex is a previous winner for Glanbia Ireland, taking the Cooperative Innovation award in the same Europe-wide competition in 2017.

First published: 04 February 2020