Tirlán awarded Origin Green Gold Membership for 2024 – our fifth in a row

Tirlán is proud to announce that we have achieved Origin Green Gold Membership for 2024, the highest form of membership a company can attain in any given year, highlighting its excellence in sustainable food production.

Tirlán is the first company to achieve 5 years of Gold Membership in a row.

Origin Green, brings together the government, private sector, and the entire supply chain—from farmers to food producers, foodservice, and retail sectors. As the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme, Origin Green enables the industry to continuously improve, set and achieve measurable sustainability targets that respect the environment and serve local communities more effectively.

Tirlán was one of the 26 leading food businesses in Ireland to receive the inaugural Gold Status Membership in 2020 and has maintained this prestigious status for 2024/25. This Gold Membership acknowledges the efforts of Tirlán’s achievement of exceptional annual performance on our sustainability targets in the previous year, in areas such as raw material sourcing, water, emissions, waste reductions, and social sustainability. All progress is independently assessed and verified by a third party, called Mabbett.

Seán Molloy, Tirlán CEO, stated: “The continued Origin Green Gold Membership acknowledges the incredible work of our family farm milk and grain suppliers. It also highlights our progress as a farmer-owned co-operative in reducing our environmental impact and the contributions we make with our research partners daily.”

In 2015, Tirlán was the first to receive the Origin Green Sustainability Award. Dr. Lisa Koep, Chief ESG Officer, remarked: “Our ongoing success with the Origin Green Gold award, our fifth in a row, is a testament to the hard work and achievements of our teams and farm families across our entire business, from suppliers to operators to our R&D teams at our Innovation Centre in Ballyragget.”

Aoife Murphy, Chief Ingredients Officer, added: “Bord Bia Origin Green Membership is an international mark of excellence and bodes well for Tirlán as Ireland’s largest farmer-owned food and nutrition business. We continue to expand our portfolio, build expertise, and evolve our offerings in line with market trends, focusing on key markets in North America, Europe, and Asia.”

Over the years, Tirlán has been commended for its community-wide green initiatives, such as Operation Biodiversity, Operation WildNation, and Operation PolliNation, led by Tirlán CountryLife’s horticulturists and teams at award-winning garden centres and local branches across the country.

Tirlán has also introduced a €16 million Sustainability Action Payment to enhance the environmental and economic sustainability of its network of over 4,500 family farms. Additionally, the Tirlán and Baileys Sustainable Farming Academy supports farm families’ positive environmental actions through a fully-funded Diploma in Environment, Sustainability, and Climate at University College Cork (UCC), with a third cohort of students about to begin their year-long studies.