More than 100 industry representatives travelled to Ballaghaderreen in Roscommon on Friday to see Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed cut the ribbon on a new 5t/hour spray dryer.

On Saturday, more than 300 milk suppliers made their way to Ballaghaderreen to view the new facility and hear about the advantages the dryer investment will give Aurivo.

While the dryer is small relative to the 30t/hour dryers in New Zealand, Aurivo claims the investment helps with capacity, flexibility in product options, and better efficiency. The Aurivo processing site is powered by renewable natural gas.

Aurivo’s milk supply has grown by some 30% since the abolition of milk quotas. This weekend’s formal opening marks a significant milestone and is a key element of the €48m capital investment programme announced last year. In 2018 Aurivo recorded a milk pool of 439 million litres, of which almost 30% goes into liquid milk.

Here we share some images from the official opening:

A selection of the powdered products created in Ballaghaderreen were on display from milk supplied from near Malin Head at the top of Donegal to south Roscommon and even further south. The products are exported to South Africa and beyond.

The cleanliness and disinfection protocols inside the new building are better than most Irish hospitals. Visitors on Friday and Saturday got a feel for what happens by touring the plant while no processing was taking place. The new facility allows new products to be created with the ultimate efficiency. Nobody actually works within the confines of the facility as all parts of the drying process are controlled from a central computer beside the dryer.

The new dryer on the Ballaghaderreen town side of the plant. The dryer is encased with concrete and cladded on the outside. This allows for high-specification powders for infants up to seniors.

The board and management of Aurivo welcomed industry representatives from all over Ireland. Many have been involved in designing and building the new dryer.

The dryer is encased in concrete to prevent any unwanted bugs getting in during the process and cladded on the outside. The ultimate in new spray drying technology is reflected in the car park, with the plug-in charger for an electric car right outside. There are electric cars in the west of Ireland too, you know.

Minister Creed and his entourage were guests of honour at Ballaghaderreen. While they were met with angry beef farmers at the gate, they were greeted inside by the board of Aurivo and industry representatives at the official unveiling of the third on-site dryer.

A rain shower and a westerly wind at the wrong time made grazing conditions difficult for the industry representatives, but the Aurivo umbrellas saved the day.

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