The price tag for the Plc’s 40pc of Glanbia Ireland (GI) is set at €307m.

Is this a good deal? We may never know.

The proposal was kept under tight wraps before the announcement last week. But even since then, nobody has been prepared to explain how the figure of €307m was arrived at.

Farmers are being assured that more details will be revealed, but what’s the hold-up?

It’s reported that KPMG were brought in to run the rule over the GI business.

However, KPMG’s stamp of approval is unlikely to be enough to convince the 11,000 farmers in Glanbia co-op, which currently holds 32pc of the Plc.

Having this many shares in the hands of a single entity is a major impediment to any self-respecting corporate with aspirations of global dominance.

Stock markets will continue to discount the true value of Glanbia Plc shares while there is potential for a single shareholding entity to effectively veto any future developments.

So Glanbia Plc, just like Kerry before it, has been keen to shed it’s co-op shareholding as quickly as possible.

But farmers are also ready to move out from under the shadow of the Plc’s management.

The current arrangement between the Plc and the co-op is destined to be forever dogged with criticism from all sides as it tries its level best to satisfy its many masters.

On one hand, the Plc is on the constant look out in case GI is paying over the odds for grain or milk, regardless of whether it has the money to do so.

Meanwhile, farmers have always been suspicious that they’ve been slowly bled of additional profit that is rightfully theirs.

So the time is right to go separate ways, but is the price for assets that were built on the back of farmers’ milk and grain sales fair?

The truth is no one knows while the details of KPMG’s analysis are held back.

Surely if the boards of the various entities involved are serious about getting this wrapped up before Christmas, all the information should be out there by now?

Other questions might be why the co-op can’t borrow enough to cover the purchase? GI’s €1.9bn business is generating €123m in profits. Could this not be used to aggressively pay down a €300m loan over a couple of years?

How can farmers have confidence that Glanbia’s low milk prices over the last decade haven’t boosted GI’s annual profits that have in turn been the basis of an artificially inflated valuation of €307m?

GI’s milk price has rarely ranked above the bottom half of the national rankings in recent years. Part of the reason was clearly the requirement for a minimum profit requirement of 3.2pc demanded by the Plc.

Requirements like these, coupled with convoluted loyalty schemes meant that Glanbia suppliers have never been sure if they are getting as much as they deserve.

They are right to be suspicious. In a business where margins are heavily influenced by scale and product mix, Glanbia should have been streets ahead of its neighbouring co-ops.

It is over twice the size of Dairygold, and nearly three times the size of Kerry in terms of milk volumes.

And with the Plc’s performance nutrition markets, GI has outlets that are as blue chip and high value as any.

The notion that there will be nothing other than some class of a Zoom meeting to discuss these types of concerns is a sure-fire way to send this multi-million euro deal the same way as the botched first attempt a decade ago.

Farmers are being asked to cash in a third of their remaining shareholding in a business with high margins to invest it in one with low margins.

Maybe that’s the price to finally shake off the shackles of the Plc?

If the co-op is able to run its own processing facilities solely for the benefit of its own members, then farmers will be in a far better position to gauge the job that management is doing.

They just need to be careful that they aren’t cashing in too much of the family silver for that privilege.

Darragh McCullough runs a mixed farm enterprise in Meath, elmgrovefarm.ie