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Organised to educate and inspire on the topic of sustainability, Tirlán’s First ESG Summit was a huge success

Tirlán’s first ESG Summit took place in the Lyrath Hotel Kilkenny last month, bringing together ESG experts and advocates to discuss and debate our organisation’s sustainability journey so far and to accelerate awareness and understanding of the changes and opportunities that lie ahead.

Hosted by Chief ESG Officer Lisa Koep, the event aimed to educate and inspire on the topic of sustainability, to stress the urgency of our collective action and to build on the momentum already in place through our Living Proof strategy.

Speaking with Overherd after the summit, Lisa told us: “It was an honour for me to host Tirlán’s first ESG Summit. When planning the event over the last number of months our objectives were clear; to accelerate the understandings and discussions around sustainability across Tirlán, to ensure everyone understands why now is the time for action and to be clear that each individual can make an incredible difference to our organisation and our world.”

Tirlán’s Chief ESG Officer Lisa Koep

Tirlán has been making great strides in its sustainability efforts over recent years and the ESG Summit marked an important point in our journey as we begin to move the conversation beyond the ESG team and Sustainability Hub to the wider organisation. Our Purpose to Nourish Lives in Balance with Nature is a powerful statement upon which to base these conversations and the actions required to accelerate transformation.

Lisa went on to explain how “Climate change is already making it harder to feed a growing planet and at the same time, unsustainable food systems are worsening the problem, creating a vicious cycle. It’s clear we must move to a better way of nourishing our growing planet, equitably, affordably and sustainably. That puts the food and agricultural industry on the front line, with a unique and important role to play.”

The good news is that Tirlán, a global provider of dairy and plant nutrition solutions, with a value chain that spans over 100 countries and encompasses 6000 farm families, is stepping up to the challenge by working with farmers to help them protect and restore our nature and climate as well as growing food in the most sustainable way we can.

At our first ESG Summit, the audience heard from Tirlán’s resident experts on sustainability, those colleagues that work day in day out as agents of change across stakeholder groups. To complement this, we were also joined by industry experts from retail, banking and policy sectors who gave great insights on their expectations of Tirlán and their own journey in this sphere.

Internal Subject Matter Experts from L-R John Finlay, Michelle Collins, Thomas Ryan, Louise Hogan and Sarah Purcell discussed the pillars of Tirlán’s Living Proof Strategy with Audrey O’Shea (far left)

Across all of the discussions on the day, it was clear that we have challenges ahead. What was equally clear were the opportunities that will present themselves if we innovate and seize them.

The summit’s keynote speaker, Marie Donnelly, talked about Ireland’s track record in emerging with unrivalled energy when met with challenges and indeed Tirlán and its people have time and time again been shown to embrace opportunities and make gains through similar agility and innovation.

Marie Donnelly, Chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council

Tirlán’s ESG Summit brought together 200 employees who are directly involved in or responsible for sustainability in our organisation. We have tasked them to come on board and act as ambassadors for our messages, our activities, impacts and our plans for the future. They will work with the ESG team to bring all 2300 employees on this incredibly important journey together. Collectively, we can and will make a difference.

Celebrating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Tirlán throughout Pride month

Throughout June, we celebrated the LGBTQ+ community at Tirlán. As part of our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace, a series of activities and events highlighted the significance of Pride Month. This year, we were honoured to host an enlightening conversation between Professor John Amaechi and our very own Business Excellence Manager, Will O’Carroll.

Professor John Amaechi and Business Excellence Manager, Will O’Carroll

As we conclude this year’s Pride Month celebrations, there are things we have learned throughout the month that we can incorporate into our everyday interactions with the people around us.

Professor John Amaechi and Will O’Carroll have reminded us that an inclusive workplace fosters innovation, improves performance and enhances overall employee sense of belonging and well-being. Let us continue to create an environment where every individual, regardless of their unique traits, feels valued and comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.

John Amaechi, a renowned Psychologist, former NBA Basketball player and a prominent advocate for inclusion, engaged in a thought-provoking discussion with Will O’Carroll. Together, they explored the importance of diversity and inclusion in our organisation and how it positively impacts our workforce and beyond. Their conversation emphasised the significance of creating a safe and supportive environment for everyone encouraging each of us to challenge bias and inappropriate behaviours in the workplace.

If you didn’t get the chance to participate in the discussion live, it’s available to view here.

Throughout the month, Tirlán colleagues were encouraged to participate in various Pride activities which aimed to educate us more about the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community and shift thinking and behaviours to create a more inclusive culture.

Our friends at Mix Diversity, DEI Consultants, provided a series of educational videos, some of which can viewed below:

• What is an ally? https://youtu.be/PzzwctdDynk
• What is Intersectionality? https://youtu.be/0nWAsJoXxWA
• What are pronouns? https://youtu.be/Kx60VwgSFmk
• What is the gender binary? https://youtu.be/Q1OCAcztQzU
• What is outing? https://youtu.be/IWZ3zbMrnQY 
• Meeting the needs of LGBTQ+ People in the workplace https://youtu.be/ZCfbnk5G4t0 
• Shaping a supportive conversation https://youtu.be/K48vAHtvsOE 

One of the most visible displays of support during Pride Month was the flying of pride flags across all our sites. From our Collaboration Hub at Abbey Quarter to our sites and branches, the vibrant colours of the rainbow flag filled our spaces, symbolizing our commitment to equity and inclusivity. 

As we conclude this year’s Pride Month celebrations, there are things we have learned throughout the month that we can incorporate into our everyday interactions with the people around us.

Professor John Amaechi and Will O’Carroll have reminded us that an inclusive workplace fosters innovation, improves performance and enhances overall employee sense of belonging and well-being. Let us continue to create an environment where every individual, regardless of their unique traits, feels valued and comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.

Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our July newsletter, we’re talking to newly appointed Technical Sales Manager for South East Asia Ludovic Chesnay

Ludovic Chesnay has joined Tirlán and is shortly moving to Vietnam where he will take up the newly-created role of Technical Sales Manager for South East Asia.

The French-born pastry and bakery chef has over 30 years’ experience in the industry and brings a wealth of international expertise to the new post. He’s really looking forward to putting back on his chef’s whites and demonstrating Avonmore’s products to a captive foodservice industry in the region.

“My role is to look after the South East Asian market and be the link between Tirlán, our business partners (the importer/distributor) and the end user of Avonmore products. When you work with the retail sector, your role is to get product on the shelf and you know it will be consumed at home by a family or an individual.

“When you work with the foodservice industry, you need to be across all of the channels, all of the time. I love food, have worked all over the world and will bring all of this passion to the role. I have worked across Europe (France, UK, Germany and Switzerland)  for world-renowned pastry boutiques, restaurants and four- and five-star hotels.
“As a young pastry chef, I decided to cross the Atlantic, to work and lived in the USA and Canada. In Montreal, I went to Université du Quebec à Montreal (UQAM) to study management. My career then took me to the South Pacific – Australia and New Caledonia.

“I came back to Ottawa, Canada to share my culinary experience, teaching Culinary Arts at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa and later spent time in Dubai, working as the International Culinary Advisor to a big French dairy producer.”

Ludovic will be based in Ho Chi Minh city and is revelling in the new challenge. “I had been a little bit nervous about joining Tirlán. But I’m very happy. Our team is very multi-cultural and I’ve been made feel very welcome. Tirlán has allowed me help shape this role so I can demonstrate as well as storytell and sell. Tirlán is still a relatively new player in the UHT cream market in South-East Asia and the opportunities are endless. It’s very exciting.

“In my new role, I will be more involved with sales, with the end user. I will not just be talking about the product, I will be showcasing how it works, driving sales. I’m also really looking forward to storytelling, to reinforcing with the captive South-East Asian audience the grass-fed credentials, telling people about sustainable Irish farming, the weather, how the cows are cared for, how Irish farmers have been doing this for generations and are working with the land, will not compromise it and are caretaking for the next generation.

“There is still so much we can do in the areas of cream cheese, technical butter and more and I’m looking forward to working with the Innovation Centre and with marketing to help create a whole new range of products for the foodservice industry, which will, in turn, create more added-value opportunities for the products we make from quality milk from family farms in our area,” he said.

Asked how he likes to unwind, he said: “I love food and I love to cook. There is nothing like Wexford strawberries, Avonmore cream, sponge cake made from local produce and of course, a nice Irish gin and tonic. Local is best and I really enjoy the natural credentials behind great Irish food and produce.”

Tirlán’s Health & Safety campaign is all about protecting the people around you

Now in its second year, Tirlán’s ‘Don’t Walk By For July’ campaign is raising awareness of how colleagues can keep each other safe at work. The campaign is running across all sites, with a particular focus on operations and branches. The aim, says Tom Crosbie, Head of Health and Safety at Tirlán, is to raise risk awareness within the business and promote the ownership of safety between staff. “What we found last year was that a campaign like this improves the overall culture around health & safety. We’re taking a proactive approach to safety, as opposed to reacting when an accident happens.”

This July, employees are being asked to raise a good save card. The ‘save’ could be pointing out something on site that needs to be improved, a piece of plant and machinery that isn’t working properly or an obvious hazard that needs to be addressed. “Once it’s brought to our attention, we can get ahead of the problem. Nobody wants to see anyone get hurt so we’re reinforcing our philosophy of protecting the people around you. At the end of the day, we all want to go home safe.”

With last year’s inaugural campaign, about 200 additional good saves were raised. “We found that people’s awareness around safety was raised and that’s what we’re going for again this year. We want to heighten that awareness across all facets of the business, but particularly across all operational areas. To build on engagement the Health & Safety team, who have done tremendous work to engage our people over the last number of years, will be speaking at various forums and engaging with site managers, frontline managers and operators on the ground.”

From October last year to March 2023, zero lost time accidents were reported across all sites. “A small number of accidents have started to creep in again, so the time is right to focus on the proactive side of safety.” Tom says Tirlán is on a path to achieving world class safety performance. “Our aim is to achieve 0.42 Lost Time Accident Incidence Rate (LTIR) in 2023. By 2025, we want to achieve a world class status of 0.28. These proactive measures that we’re implementing, such as ‘Don’t Walk By for July’, are an important step towards achieving these targets.”

Over the next few months, Tom and his team intend to complete a H&S culture measure across all areas of the business. “That will give us a really good insight into the culture of safety on our sites. It will also inform what we need to concentrate on going forward. It’s like we’re firing darts at a board – we know we are firing in the right direction, but we need to up our game if we’re to hit the board every time.”

Advocacy in action on farm and in our Drogheda plant

Tirlán’s teams across our 11 processing facilities work hand in hand with our family farm milk suppliers to bring world-class, nutritious milk from grass to glass every single day. We also love to show first-hand, either on farm or at our sites, the dedication that goes into producing a top-quality product.

Three of our producers opened their farm gates to pupils from local primary schools recently and showcased to the next generation how they’re caring for their herds and proudly producing nutritious milk more sustainably than ever.

Meanwhile, a very enthusiastic group from St Brigid’s School in Dundalk also visited their local plant recently under the school’s ‘Walk Peer Programme’. The programme helps young people who have special educational needs and it supports them so they can successfully transition into the world of work.

The group really enjoyed their factory tour with Production Manager, Frank McDonnell, aided by Jamie Rogers (Env, H&S Manager) and Peter McGuinness (Quality Manager).

The tour finished with the group tasting of some of the 23 different milk blends produced each week in the Drogheda site, followed by a packed lunch in the boardroom. The class were a pleasure to have on site and they were very appreciative of the efforts made by all the Tirlán team. It was a win win for the Drogheda team, with a whole new group of consumers introduced to and delighted with their Mooju samples.

Recent visitors to our Innovation Centre in Ballyragget were impressed by our people and our commitment to sustainability

Tirlán welcomed a group of buyers from Southeast Asia to our Innovation Centre in Ballyragget recently, who were on a dairy trade mission to Ireland organised by Bord Bia.

The group was shown various applications and solutions from our dairy and plant-based portfolios and were extremely engaged in conversations around proteins, cheese, plant based and FFMP ingredients.

This was a collaborative effort from all the teams in Ballyragget, the R&D team and the Commercial and Consumer teams. Bord Bia and the Southeast Asia group were hugely impressed with our innovations, our people and the Innovation Centre.

The Southeast Asian Buyers Group who visited the Innovation Centre recently

Two days later a group of future farmers also visited the Innovation Centre where they were given various presentations, application work and demos. The future farmers were very impressed, with one commenting that “it’s easy to forget about the milk once it leaves the farm”.

Tirlán’s Head of Agri-Sustainability & Customer Engagement, Thomas Ryan, commented on how “it’s great to highlight our agri-business, ingredients, milk quality, sustainability & innovation expertise with this very important group of climate action change champions amongst our farm family suppliers.”

The Future Farmers Group pictured in Ballyragget recently