THE INAUGURAL ORIGIN GREEN FARMER AWARDS – HORTICULTURAL PRODUCERS HONOUREDThe Origin Green Farmer Awards recognise and reward the exceptional performance of its Sustainable Quality Assurance schemes for beef, horticulture and dairy. These schemes are pivotal to differentiating Irish food products in the global marketplace; participating farms meet high standards around food safety, animal health, welfare and traceability. Twelve horticultural producers were shortlisted based on their overall audit performance and each was visited by an independent judging panel and assessed across sustainability topics including crop husbandry, health and safety, farm labour, local community involvement, environmental/biodiversity measures and energy usage. These finalists are among the top-performing horticultural farms in Ireland producing high-quality fresh produce. Judging for the Horticulture sector was completed by experts from Teagasc, University College Dublin and I.T. Blanchardstown. In this edition of Horticulture News we are featuring a full profile of our winner in the Potato category: POTATOES
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LEAN PRODUCTIONBord Bia carried out a Lean pilot in the mushroom sector in 2016 in conjunction with the industry using the EI LeanStart model. This was done to assess the usefulness of Lean in improving productivity amongst growers affected by the fall in the value of sterling. Following the success of the pilot project, Bord Bia worked with other horticultural sectors on a pilot basis and are now offering some support to all sectors from 2019. Lean manufacturing or lean production, often simply “lean”, is defined as a systematic method for waste minimisation within a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity. A Lean consultant works with producers in a dedicated one on one basis, looking at the business as a whole, and then selecting an area to focus on. The process is intensive, and requires a high level of commitment for success, but has resulted in considerable cost savings and increases in productivity. The benefits of Lean to growers as demonstrated in the pilot programmes to date are an increase in productivity and substantial cost savings. The projects typically concentrate on big cost centres within the business, especially labour and energy use. There is also a heavy emphasis on metrics – e.g. labour performance versus last month, versus this time last year, and a reduction in waste – what proportion of production is not sold, and why. Bord Bia has been following the Enterprise Ireland model of Lean because it is tried and tested. There are three options open to growers– LeanStart, LeanPlus and GreenStart. There will be limited funds available for Lean projects 2020 – please contact Michal.slawski@bordbia.ie for more information. ✽ |
NATIONAL POTATO DAYBord Bia engaged with third level students across the country to revitalise the potato among younger consumers to celebrate National Potato Day on Friday 4th October last, Bord Bia launched a campaign to encourage people to #LikeShareCookSpuds and help move potatoes from ‘on-the-boil’ to ‘on-line’ in order to drive engagement with younger demographics. Earlier this year, Bord Bia research identified that generation Z (aged 18 to 23) consumers are interested in tasty, convenient recipes to cook, and appreciate the nutritional information of foods. However, an information gap exists as they do not believe potatoes are as deserving as other foods to photograph and share online due to a lack of visibility of suitable recipes. In the week leading up to National Potato Day, Bord Bia visited UCD, DCU, NUIG and UCC where students were given a ‘Potato Survival Kit’ which included time-saving tips, nutritional advice, simple potato recipes, handy video links and some fresh potatoes to cook. The students were also encouraged to visit the potato.ie website for simple recipe inspiration and to share their favourite recipes on social media. As part of the National Potato Day campaign, Lorcan Bourke, Fresh Produce & Potato Manager at Bord Bia said, “We know that Irish people love their spuds but our research identified barriers to potato purchase including a lack of awareness of the ease of preparation and nutritional benefits. Potatoes were often associated with traditional cooking methods, with generation Z consumers unaware of their multicultural and international usage. This campaign aims to address this information gap by connecting with students and younger demographics.” Recipes and Information with more than 140 potato recipes to choose from, Bord Bia’s Potato.ie website is brimming with ideas and offers something for everyone. With breakfast and brunch options such as Mexican Huevos Rancheros and Potato Pancake with Smashed Avocado and Smoked Salmon; lunch dishes like Atlantic Seafood Chowder and Asian Spiced Potato Crab Cakes with Rainbow Slaw; and dinner favourites including a Hot Wok Potato and Beef Stir-Fry and Light Massaman Chicken and Potato Curry. In addition to the student campus activity, a number of events took place around the country to celebrate National Potato Day including an appearance at the Dingle Food Festival in partnership with Feile an Phráta and Bord Bia. ✽ |
GROMÓR 2019
Results from the digital side of the campaign were impressive. Unique users were up 90% to just under 40,000, and page views were up 235%. There are 20,000 followers on Facebook, with the best figures for the GroMór launch post (37,000 reaches) Hydrangeas (17,000) and Bloom tickets (16,000). A combined total of 57 videos were edited/repurposed/created and shared across the website and social media. These resulted in 218,000 video views with the campaign video having the most views with 23,000. Going forward, the future of the digital campaign is in engagement, and building up an online community through sharing and tagging. There was a Quality Mark Plant Village at Bloom (with a GroMór voucher offer), GroMór garden centres featured on the garden stage at Bloom, and the GroMór and Bloom websites were linked. ✽ |
ARE YOU BREXIT READY?
Bord Bia’s 2019 Brexit Barometer has played a vital role in enabling its client companies to identify, assess and prepare for the challenges that Brexit has created. The Brexit Barometer is a risk diagnostic tool that focuses on six key risk areas related to Brexit: customer relationships, supply chain, customs and controls, financial resilience, market diversification and emerging risks. In addition to helping companies measure their exposure and preparedness, the Brexit Barometer outlines the support services that Bord Bia has created in response to the findings within the report. The BREXIT Action Plan provides practical information that client companies can utilise in order to prepare for increased complexity in UK trade, and therefore mitigate the risks posed by Brexit. Each section of this Action Plan includes ‘how-to guidelines’ accompanied by a checklist to help guide companies through potential next steps and actions to consider. A full list of Bord Bia’s support services which are free, including Supply Chain Mentoring, Financial Risk Mentoring, Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Mentoring, and Customs Readiness Training, can be found on the BREXIT area of the Bord Bia website, along with information on other State support available. www.bordbia.ie/industry/brexit ✽ |
