The Cooney Furlong Grain Co Ltd

About Us

The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. Ltd. is a medium sized company in the agribusiness sector founded in 1998. It has established itself as one of the major independent Agribusinesses in the country. It forms a major part of the Cooney Group in which there are 4 aligned companies, all in the agricultural business. The Cooney Furlong Grain Co markets 50,000T of combinable crops per annum on behalf of over 600 farmers across the southeast of Ireland.

 

The company has continued to grow organically and through associations with trading partners and other companies within The Cooney Group.

 

The company sells agricultural inputs to farmers and also purchases grain from both farmers and assemblers at harvest time. The company then segregates, dries and stores grain and sells it directly to end users and to grain brokers throughout the year. The company is committed to being part of the future of Agribusiness in Ireland.

 

The agronomy service and crop input supply were added in 1999 to compliment the grain storage and buying business so that a complete service could be offered to both the grower and the consumer. As traceability becomes ever more important in agriculture today, the value of this complete service cannot be underestimated.

 

2004 saw The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. Ltd enter a partnership to supply Diageo with the highest quality Barley for use in the food industry. This brought with it many new challenges and opportunities for the company. We have successfully demonstrated to Diageo that we can consistently deliver a high quality product, therefore reducing risk for continuity of supply and offering guaranteed quality. This leaves the Cooney Furlong Grain Co. well placed to deal with the challenges of tomorrow’s industry.

 

The central store at the Caim Site offers storage of 25,000 T of capacity with state of art segregation and conditioning equipment. This facility is well complimented by Kevin Cooney Grain Ltd. a sister company with 15,000T of capacity at the Raheenduff store.

 

The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. continues to pride itself on maintaining a uniquely personalised and high quality service to both the grower and customer to maintain the company’s reputation of delivering the right product to the right home at the right time.

 

The Cooney Furlong Grain Co.  is a member of the Cooney Group. This is a group of companies that are strategically linked and were formed as a result of joint ventures and the acquisition of additional premises. The following companies currently make up the Cooney Group:

·        Kevin Cooney Ltd.

·        The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. Ltd

·        Gardiner Grain Ltd.

 

In 2001, a company was formed to import fertilizers, called Target Fertilizers Ltd. Target Fertilizers Ltd. is now the third largest fertilizer company in Ireland with 25% of the overall Irish market, importing, blending and selling 215,000T. The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. has a 50% shareholding in this company.

 

The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. site at Caim has been developed over a number of years since 1998 with our most recent addition being 2 Batching Bins installed in 2005. We have implemented a Food Safety System, including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan. A key element in this is product traceability.

 

Since 2001 we have been part of the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme (IGAS) quality assurance Programme for cereals and other combinable crops. The scheme is designed to assure consumers that grains are produced, handled, stored and transported according to a defined code of practice. We have received IGAS accreditation for the past 7 years. The overall benefits are enhanced consumer confidence and maintenance and expansion of markets.

 

Currently, The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. has 15 employees and within the group there are 50 people employed.

 

The provision of a highly efficient service from The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. storage facility is key to making harvest operations as smooth as possible for our growers with key performance indicators in place for fast turnaround, sampling, loading and unloading of all trailers. The list below shows just some of the key factors involved in the intake system :

·        Daily intake of up to 4,000 tonnes

·        tipping points situated around the complex

·        Industry leading laboratory facilities and sampling system

·        Efficient weighbridge system to ensure turnaround times are minimised

·        Dedicated and highly trained staff to ensure accurate and swift quality analysis.

·        24 hr intake

The Cooney Furlong Grain Co storage facility gives the marketing team a “third dimension” when in dialogue with consumers as the offer of continuity of supply, quality segregation and supply all year round makes The Cooney Furlong Grain Co. the first choice for buyers of quality combinable crops. Some of our  key learning points to date include:

·         Speed of response to customers/growers needs is critical

·         Continued investment in the latest technology helps improve the service

·         Specialist marketing services complement sophisticated storage facilities

·         Central storage give added benefits of economies of scale and reduces transport cost and multiple handlings.

  

The stores are registered under the Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops (TASCC). Strict compliance with COSHH, Food Safety, environmental legislation and Farm Assurance Criteria ensures that Central Stores are capable of meeting all foreseeable legislative requirements. In the future more accreditation is required to differentiate us from our competitors and keep us ahead of the game. We want to be the benchmark for all other companies.