Much is made of our ability in this country to produce good quality food
Much is made of our ability in this country to produce good quality food. It is (supposedly) one of our national traits. The miserable weather produces rich growth that fuels our supply of vegetables and of the grass-eating ruminants that give us our meat.
But we live in a commercial-oriented world of international trade. The EU began more as a protectionist organisation where the poorer countries were supported with a leg-up to be able to compete with the richer ones, all gaining access to the different markets across Europe.
That has all evolved into something more akin to a commercial free-for-all and in this context, food sources are coming more and more from wherever it is in the world that they can do it more cheaply than we can.
Covid’s wake-up call on food sovereignty
It was only during the Covid restrictions that we got a peak behind the curtain and got an inkling of how much international trade has created a world where we in Ireland, for example, have nothing close to food sovereignty. Yes, we export 90% of certain produce such as beef, but with even the most basic vegetables that grow perfectly well on Irish soil, they are being replaced by imports and that trend is increasing.
Maybe we need to start by admitting to ourselves that the notion of food sovereignty in the current modern era is no more than an illusion. Take the case of our great beef industry: With producers exporting most of what they produce, one can be forgiven for thinking that ‘we’ have control over that particular sector. If demand grows on the outside, we’ll simply keep more for our internal market. Right? Wrong, it’s the opposite that happens and which is happening right now: demand skyrockets on the outside, producers sell more to satisfy an international market and the price skyrockets for Irish consumers.
The Decline and Future of Ireland’s Horticulture Sector
Horticulture looks like a rapidly dying sector on the face of it, with many operators disappearing over the last number of years.
“We would have had a couple of hundred growers in the country,” says Emer Gallahar Hall, Senior Horticulture Manager at Bord Bia. “Now, we’re down to 60 or 70 – particularly in the area of fresh produce.
“What I will say, however, is that we’re down to pure experts in the field; people who are incredibly good at what they do and with bigger operations. While it used to be common to have horticultural operations of 10 or 20 acres, now it’s more common for them to be of the order 100 or 200 acres in size.”
While stopping short of referring to it as a crisis, Emer does believe that it is a worry for the next generation of horticulturalists coming through: the low margins and long hours make it a relatively unattractive pursuit, she feels.
There is also room for expansion of horticultural operations in Ireland into the foodservice sector. At the moment, almost all of our green produce (85%) is sold into the retail sector and this statistic presents opportunity, Emer says.
“There’s room for growth, we think, for companies to expand into foodservice industries,” says Maureen Gahan, Foodservice Specialist with Bord Bia. “And, from a restaurant point of view, we think that the need is there from the point of view of the customers and that maybe they just need to shout about it a little bit more.”
Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) would naturally love to see Irish food producers enjoying a healthy existence but also recognises that we all operate in an open international market for competing products, services and customers.
“There’s the population growth in the country, you also have tourists coming into the country,” says Adrian. “There’s high export demand for certain Irish products – certainly with beef. You have all these conflicting factors that each have an impact in terms of price and supply. As a restaurant, the dilemma is; if you can’t find it, what do you use to substitute it with?”
Safeguarding Irish food production, either as an industry or with individual companies, isn’t an option that the Irish Government can get involved in, he points out. On the other hand, he believes that the general feeling that the EU has gone too far in over-regulation (often seen as distorting the food production market in favour of bigger companies) is a notion that has found its way into the corridors of power in Brussels.
“They have actually started to look at de-regulation,” says Cummins. “They’re aware that they went too far and I think that all that everybody wants to know that there’s quality food available and that it’s safe for human consumption.”
The nature of food production at source is also continuing to evolve at a fast rate, with herd numbers increasing, smaller operators being squeezed out and processing plants consolidating. The popularity of chicken, for example, is still increasing in Ireland but the number of chicken processors has shrunk. Today, there are only two – Manor Farm (which is Danish-owned) in Meath and Shannon Vale in West Cork.
“We’re at a crossroads now in Ireland in many ways,” adds Adrian. “How do we provide quality food at a reasonable price for our population, safeguard its quality and provenance and support those producers that want to diversify into new products and ranges?”
“The reality is that current Irish poultry production simply does not have the capacity to meet the full demands of the foodservice sector,” says Kiera Campbell, Sales Director with Henderson Foodservice, one of the leading foodservice companies across the island of Ireland, “particularly when it comes to chicken fillets; which represent the highest volume demand across hospitality menus. The majority of Irish chicken fillets are directed into the retail market, meaning availability for wholesale or foodservice is limited.
“As a result, we do have to source a significant portion of our fillet range from approved EU suppliers. These imports are, on average, around 33% cheaper than Irish poultry, which reflects the price pressures many operators in the hospitality industry are currently facing.”
For Alan Fitzmaurice, President of the Panel of Chefs, it’s all about education; to make people aware of what is important with regard to our individual health and with regard to the wellbeing of our indigenous food industry as a whole.
France, he says, is an example of a country where people are acutely aware of the quality of food that their individual regions produce and French people spend big on food, putting quality and provenance above saving at all costs.
“I was recently in America and when you start looking at what is happening in the United States and their story of food providence, it has become very bad,” says Alan. “Their bread, for example, couldn’t be considered bread over here.”
The gap between those who can afford to eat healthily and those who cannot, can widen of its own dynamic, he says. Only education on what it is real food will serve as a bulwark against such a phenomenon happening in Ireland.
“We have to take something of a moral stand on it because people should be able to get good quality food… People in France are super tuned in (to good food). It’s a hugely well-developed country but they hold their traditions very dear in the area of food… they control quality and provenance very well – their different cheeses and where they come from, for example. Everybody knows where their food is coming from and everybody knows the importance of quality locally-produced food according to established traditions.”
Education also has to teach people about seasonality, he says; about realising that it is simply crazy to buy strawberries in the middle of winter – when they’ve been shipped in on a long journey during which they’ve lost their flavour.
“Good food education should be something that’s taught from Primary School level upwards,” says Alan. “People are blinkered and blinded to the facts of seasonality and the sources of real food… we can do an awful lot more from an educational point of view and it has to be led by somebody: the Government has to do it in a couple of different ways – one is labelling, another is education.”
“Open trade is certainly a cornerstone of the global food industry, but it should not come at the expense of the integrity of our local food system,” says Cathal Geoghegan, Managing Director of Henderson Foodservice. “We strongly believe that food sovereignty — in the form of protecting and promoting Irish producers — must be part of our long-term strategy as a country and as an industry.
“There is immense value in safeguarding the future of local agriculture, horticulture, and food production. Beyond supporting rural economies and jobs, it’s about ensuring the resilience and reliability of our food supply chain. We take our role as a route to market very seriously. We actively champion Irish-grown, Irish-reared and Irish-made products within our range and communications, and we collaborate with suppliers who share our values around sustainability and quality.
“To us, this isn’t just an economic issue — it’s about cultural heritage, national identity, and supporting the future of food on the island of Ireland.”
Education, Partnerships, and Protecting Ireland’s Food Future
From an educational point of view, getting people up to speed and educated is very much part of the brief of Bord Bia. As Maureen Gahan says, however, it is ultimately the consumer who makes the choice and the hard truth is that consumers put the provenance of their food and any notions of safeguarding Irish food suppliers very much second in their considerations when going out to eat, for example.
And, of course, Bord Bia offers the labelling system with their Q-mark that allows people to see that it passes a certain quality level and that it comes from Ireland. This is all very well and pointing out these facts to people is as much as they can do to encourage Irish food over any other, but people don’t always prioritise Irish food, she says.
What does seem to work is to develop partnerships that address themselves directly to the consumer and which create a successful link from supplier through service to the consumer.
Bord Bia got involved in a “Full Irish Breakfast” partnership with Ireland’s biggest hotel group Dalata. The owners of the Maldron and Clayton brands realised that their clients were expecting the full Irish breakfast to be made from fully Irish ingredients: it resulted on the hotel securing more long-term Irish-supplied pork products while their customers were getting what they wanted – an Irish breakfast.
Another project was run in conjunction with foodservice business Sysco and Romeo’s fish and chip shop in Cork City. In that case, the potato grower did an exclusive deal with the chip shop, who in turn was able to offer his consumer locally-sourced chips that you wouldn’t be likely to get anywhere else. A huge amount of chips in Ireland come from imported potatoes but this project offered consumers the opportunity to get 100% Irish chips and the potato producer got a steady purchaser for his produce. In this way, the desire for the consumer to get something local and Irish is being satisfied while the local supplier’s existence is being safeguarded.
“Things like that kind of partnership are the way forward,” says Emer, “because I think that everybody has a foot in the game so to speak and are therefore happy with it. Then there’s that long-term commitment to it – growers don’t plant crops if they don’t have a customer at the end of the day.”
