Owen Keogh and Aine O’Neill, Bord Bia – The Irish Food Board

There is no denying the vast challenges facing the Irish food and agriculture industry, however, unlike previous challenges in the market, the industry now has an internationally recognised and revered program, Origin Green.

Ireland's Origin Green Program is the first, and currently only, national sustainability program that has a focus from farm to fork. In conjunction with the Quality assurance schemes in place, Ireland is positioned as a supplier of integrity and quality. These credentials are imperative if we are to continue the pursuit of markets like China and America, alongside the growing challenge of Brexit.

The achievement of branded products sought across the water is astonishing. With the Irish Independent reporting this week that Kerry Gold – Ornua, is aiming to drive sales over the €1bn mark. This only highlights the demand for high quality finished Irish products.

Origin Green, through the Origin Green Ambassador program has brought awareness of the detail of the programme to high profile UK based companies that will undoubtedly be very important to the Irish food industry during Brexit. These include companies such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Mars UK, Bidvest and McDonald’s Europe, to name a few of the sixty placements that have taken place since 2012. The Ambassadors have worked to deliver the Origin Green Story and the achievements of the program to date, highlighting Ireland as a place to source high quality food & ingredients. The scale of collaboration across the supply chain continues to impress and allude competitors, with French and New Zealand press giving air to the virtues of such a program.

There is no doubt, that the Origin Green programme will be hugely important in the approach Irish food and drink companies take to Brexit. This week, UK Food prices climbed at their fastest rate for more than three years, as the weak pound pushed up import prices, new research shows. Also, surging sales of salmon helped the UK to export a record amount of food and drink in the first quarter of 2017, the Food and Drink Federation has said. Of this, the UK generated some £854m worth of exports to Ireland in the first three months of this year and Ireland remains the UK’s most important trading partner by far when it comes to food and drink. These figures are yet more evidence that protecting this relationship post-Brexit will be key.