Origin Green Progress
Since the launch of Origin Green the Irish food industry has made great progress towards the aim of driving sustainable food production. This is captured in the Origin Green Progress Report published in 2019 and detailed below.
At farm level, there are over 77,000 members of Bord Bia’s Sustainable Assurance Schemes for beef, lamb, dairy, horticulture and eggs. Over 367,000 carbon assessments have taken place on beef and dairy farms, and results indicate their respective carbon footprints declined.
In terms of national production, sustainable schemes account for; 95% of milk produced, 92% of beef produced, >95% of eggs, and 70% of horticulture.
Currently there are over 300+ verified members of the Origin Green Programme, representing over 90% of food and drink exports.
In 2016 the programme was extended to the retail and food service sectors, using a similar mechanism. A total of 11 companies became verified members by the end of 2022. As per Origin Green’s Progress Update report farms that joined the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS) saw an average of 8% reduction in CO2 per unit of beef produced and farms that joined Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) saw an average of 9% reduction in CO2 per unit of milk produced.
The Origin Green Progress Report shows that, largre Origin Green manufacturing members have achieved an 12% reduction in energy use per unit of output, while SME members delivered over an 7.8% reduction in energy use per unit of output. Similar progress has been made in water use efficiency whereby largre manufacturing members delivered a 8.8% reduction in water use per unit of output. In addition, members progress is not confined to operational targets, Origin Green members have set over 643 supplier certification targets and donated over €11m to community and charity organisations.