Fivemiletown Creamery likes to claim it was the birthplace of the first Irish blue cheese, Ballyblue, and also the first smoked brie in Europe. The creamery, which is a farmer-owned co-operative, has been trading since 1898 and has not only generated jobs for local people, and sourced milk from local farmers but also taken immense pride in creating award-winning products during its 116 years in business.

Cheese made in the small, rural Tyrone village has graced the shelves of some of the finest retailers in Europe – Fivemiletown even succeeded in selling Irish brie to the French.

The creamery’s speciality cheeses helped it build a loyal following from the United States to the Middle East and Hong Kong, and it grew annual sales to more than £24 million.

But two years ago the outlook for the creamery began to sour when it lost a major supply contract with Kerry Foods. It struggled to secure milk supplies and difficult trading conditions led to job losses and financial pressures that threatened to overwhelm it.

Little optimism
Everything came to a head last month when Fivemiletown Co-op agreed to sell the creamery to Glanbia Ingredients in a deal which saw Glanbia acquire the milk pool of 24 million litres a year from Fivemiletown and all of its cheese brands bar its Boilie goat's cheese.

There was little optimism at the time that the creamery’s remaining 50 employees would have a job when the deal with Glanbia was finalised.

The reversal of fortunes at the Tyrone creamery has been a major blow in an area where jobs are few and industry is scarce. Even more important is the fact that the agri-food sector is a major jobs multiplier. When one business is lost, it has a domino effect, a fact not lost on the Minister of Enterprise Arlene Foster who highlighted just how vital the agri-food sector is to the local economy during last week's Balmoral Show, the largest annual agricultural show in Northern Ireland.

Foster said the sector accounts for more sales, exports and jobs than any other manufacturing sector. It is estimated that the sector helps to support 92,000 jobs.

Latest figures show that almost one-fifth of total exports from the North were in the food sector last year.

Right conditions
Foster said: "The industry impacts on every town and village in Northern Ireland, from farming and fishing, to processing, distribution and retail. For every job created in food, a further two jobs are created elsewhere in the economy, which is why we are doing everything that we can to create the conditions needed to support the growth of this important sector."

Creating the right conditions, however, could prove challenging. Invest NI was an enthusiastic supporter of Fivemiletown Creamery down the years but that support did not really make much difference when the business was faced with potential closure.

Government agencies do have an important role to play in delivering financial packages that can help local firms innovate and break in to new markets but, at the end of the day, success or failure depends solely on the people running the business as has been demonstrated by Fivemiletown Creamery – and of course a certain degree of luck.

As it is, however, Fivemiletown Creamery’s luck appears not to have run out, thanks largely to the intervention of another dairy co-operative owned by farmer members in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland.

Dale Farm, which is owned by the United Dairy Farmers, says it wants to buy the Fivemiletown cheese brands from Glanbia and continue cheese production in the Tyrone village. The deal will not save all of the jobs at the creamery – but it may create employment for at least 20 of its former workers.

David Dobbin, Dale Farm group's chief executive, said it not only intended to maintain production in Fivemiletown but would also invest in developing the brand in the future.

“The deal that we have arrived at with Glanbia will ensure that the cheese brands that are so synonymous with Fivemiletown will be retained in that area.”