Spring 2018 – All the latest news from Bord Bia

Mushroom exports 2017

In 2017 the farmgate value of the mushroom industry was valued at over €121m, producing 68,000 tonnes of mushrooms. The mushroom industry exports 80% of its production to the UK market and these were valued at €91m last year which was a robust performance by the sector in the context of Brexit and the impact this was having on currency rates. In volume terms exports were back slightly compared to 2016. The UK retail market, which is the key destination market for Irish mushrooms, has been showing good volume growth at a rate of 2.5% per annum reaching an all-time high while value grew by 3 %. The largest product category in the retail mushroom market in the UK is closed cup pre-packed mushrooms with almost a 50% share of total retail mushroom sales. There is larger growth in smaller sectors but from a smaller base – the two areas with the strongest growth are currently button mushrooms and brown mushrooms. In 2017 on the domestic market retail mushroom sales were strong with a 6% increase in volume and 2% in value. ✽

Potato promotion

The EU and industry-funded promotional campaign titled “Potatoes – More Than A Bit On The Side” is being rolled out from 2015 to 2018. This year will be the final year of the current campaign. Key activities include outdoor, print and online advertising as well as significant social media communication across a number of digital platforms which drive consumers to the campaign website potato.ie. Consumer research tracking the campaign is showing that the campaign awareness and messaging are cutting through. Kantar Worldpanel data for the retail potato market 2017 reports both value and volume growth and an increase in the frequency of purchase by the target audience. To date, some noticeable outcomes for the campaign include 524,000 of the target audience reached by press advertising, 15m impressions delivered through digital advertising, and 700,000 unique visits to the campaign website potato.ie. In 2017 in Ireland over 380,000 tonnes of potatoes were produced on over 9,000 ha. ✽

School programmes 

The EU School Fruit and Vegetables scheme is implemented in Ireland through the Food Dudes programme. The Food Dudes programme is an evidence-based incentivised behaviour changing initiative which is managed by Bord Bia and funded by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and the European Union. The Food Dudes programme aims to increase sustained fruit and vegetable consumption amongst primary school children through the provision and repeated tasting of fruit and vegetables over a 16 day intervention period with the support of accompanying measures in the form of role models (Food Dudes Heroes) and small rewards (followed by a home phase where fruit and vegetables are supplied from home). The Food Dudes Boost programme was introduced at the beginning of 2015 and will have been ordered to all national schools by the end of the 2018 school year. A total of over 800 schools and 110,000 school children participated in the Boost programme in 2017.

The Incredible Edibles programme reaches its 10th birthday in 2018 and is still going strong. The Incredible Edibles is a school-based programme with the aim of engaging children in growing fruit and vegetables and increasing awareness of their role in a healthy and balanced diet. Jointly funded by the horticulture industry with support from the Departments of Health and Education and Bord Bia, the programme is managed at school level by the farming promotion body Agri-Aware. A total of 1,500 national schools took part in the programme during 2017. The programme is commencing in schools this spring with another strong year of participation by schools anticipated with close to last year’s total already registered. ✽

Amenity crop exports 2017

The value of exports from the amenity sector was estimated at over €17m in 2017 which was an increase on the previous year. Amenity horticulture exports rely heavily on the UK for sales and despite currency changes triggered by Brexit growers of plants, Christmas trees, cut foliage and flowers managed to maintain or in some cases increase exports to the UK and Northern Ireland.

Hardy nursery stock accounts for €7m of exports. Bulb and cut flower exports to Northern Ireland, the UK and continental Europe were valued at €1.3m. Cut foliage producers have made significant inroads into a strong mainland Europe market with exports valued at €4.8m. Recent investments in production should see significant opportunity to realise further growth. Christmas tree exports were valued at €4.8m last year which was similar to the previous year and while returns were back a little this was compensated by a small increase in volume. ✽

Mushrooms complement everything

In 2017 a successful application to seek EU funding for a new €2m promotion campaign over three years in the UK and Ireland market was made. The new campaign will commence in 2018 and will focus on digital advertising and social media. The campaign titled ‘Mushrooms Complement Everything – Great Taste – Europe Grown’ is a promotions programme designed to highlight the health, versatility and quality of mushrooms, and maintain their market position against a set of competing vegetables mainly imported into the EU. In 2017 Bord Bia co-funded a campaign with the industry in UK and Ireland to maintain promotional activity in the market ahead of the new campaign commencing this year. That campaign activity was focused online, i.e. through digital and social media, and the campaign achieved 11 million impressions and resulted in 139,000 visits to the campaign website. ✽

Grow Cook Eat

Bord Bia is a joint sponsor with the EPA (and their stop food waste campaign) of the new TV series Grow Cook Eat which commenced a seven-week run on TV in mid-March. It is aimed at people with little or no knowledge of gardening, but who like the idea of being able to grow at least something themselves. As well as the step-by-step guides to growing vegetables, there are features on building raised beds, making a compost heap and improving soil fertility. Each programme ends with a recipe using the featured vegetable and made by one of two chefs featured in the series: Jessica Murphy, from Kai Restaurant in Galway, and Jack Kirwan, owner of the Sprout chain of restaurants in Dublin.

Bord Bia is delighted to be associated with the programme which will demonstrate gardening as an activity that anyone can do and how its healthy produce can be used in many tasty and convenient ways. The programme will also help to build awareness of the horticulture industry in Ireland through the featuring of some local producers in the programme and a visit to Bloom. Bord Bia promotes gardening as a healthy and enjoyable activity which contributes to a person’s wellbeing as well as enhancing the environment we live in. Bord Bia also promotes the consumption of fresh produce as part of a healthy balanced diet. ✽

Lean management

Bord Bia, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, has been and is implementing pilot lean management initiatives in the horticulture industry. Following the successful pilot lean projects carried out in early 2017 in the mushroom sector (which identified the benefits through cost savings/ increased productivity), further initiatives are currently taking place in the mushroom sector, and in amenity, tomato, strawberry and field vegetable enterprises. The pilot initiatives include a mix of lean start and lean plus programmes. It is hoped to be able to take the learnings from these initiatives and communicate the outcome within sectors on how lean practices can be implemented to improve business performance. ✽