As part of a three-day official visit to Italy, the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Sabina Higgins, travelled to Milan today to launch the ‘Irish National Day’ at Expo Milano 2015. The Expo is a large scale global fair which runs for six months, every five years. The universal theme of the Expo Milan is: ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’ and the Irish Government selected Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme as the key focus of the Ireland Pavilion, in addition to the Wild Atlantic Way. A total of 140 countries are participating in total and it is estimated 20 million people will visit the Expo 2015 which runs until October.
Addressing the large crowd who had gathered to enjoy the Irish celebrations led by Cashel based music group Bru Boru, President Higgins said he was proud that Ireland had taken up the challenge of the Expo food security theme and praised all the sustainability work undertaken to date by the Irish food industry through Bord Bia’s Origin Green Programme. “Origin Green will be a valuable contributor to the food security debate and while it may not be possible to replicate it in every country it shows that with innovative thinking and especially buy-in from stakeholders, solutions can be found and, more importantly, implemented.”
Speaking in Milan today Aidan Cotter, Chief Executive, Bord Bia said “Origin Green is a voluntary sustainability programme for Irish food and drink producers which proves their commitment to operating in a sustainable manner. Working across the entire supply chain – from farm to manufacturing – it is the only sustainability programme in the world which operates on a national scale. Since launching in 2012, the industry response has been remarkable and today over 450 Irish food and drink manufacturers have signed up to Origin Green. Many have submitted sustainability plans that have been scrutinised by independent third party agencies and are now actively, and measurably, making a difference across a range of environmental measures in sourcing, manufacturing and social responsibility.”
“At farm level, Bord Bia is carbon footprinting over 800 farms per week as part of the Origin Green programme. To date, over 45,000 beef farms, representing 90% of Ireland’s beef production, have become full members, each with their individual performance measured. Almost 18,000 dairy farms, representing virtually all dairy production in the country will go through similar sustainability assessments over the next 18 months. Our ambitious goal of having every farm and every food business in Ireland actively participating in Origin Green by 2016 is on track” he added.
“As world population grows and demand for food increases we are all acutely aware that the planets resources are finite and that the security of future generations depend on us making the right decisions now that are informed by the best information available” Mr. Cotter concluded.
Following a reception on the Ireland pavilion, the President visited a number of the international pavilions before departing for Rome.