05 /BORD BIA ezine INCREDIBLE EDIBLES KEEP WELL EVENT On March 25th over 25,000 primary school children from 1,000 schools took part in a recent Incredible Edibles Keep Well Day when they joined two virtual events, featuring well-known fitness trainer, Ray Lally, aka The Happy Fitness Guy, and horticulturist, Brian McCarthy, who runs the unique Cork Rooftop Farm in Cork City. The Happy Fitness Guy, who features on RTE’s Today Show, hosted a funfilled fitness session showcasing the importance of keeping active and looking after your physical and emotional well-being. Brian McCarthy of Cork Rooftop Farm, wowed viewers with an engaging tour of his skyline farm and answered sowing and growing questions. The Incredible Edibles Keep Well event was held in conjunction with Healthy Ireland’s Keep Well Campaign, as part of the Government Plan for Living with Covid-19 – Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021. Dr Elizabeth Finnegan, Healthy Eating Executive at Bord Bia noted that a record number of schools registered to participate in the Programme this year and underlined Bord Bia’s delight in being able to showcase the important work Incredible Edibles is doing in schools, promoting fun and interactive ways children, schools, families and communities can get active in the garden. You can watch the Incredible Edibles Keep Well event here https://www. youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMZH_0CrdoayG18zBmAy40Kf0XtR-Wr- ✽
DEVELOPING RESILIENCE THROUGH ACTIVITY Bord Bia are delighted to partner with Healthy Ireland on the government’s ‘Keep Well’ campaign. Remote working and self-isolating means the home is currently the centre of our world. Eating well and staying active, especially outdoors, is so important to overall health and mental wellbeing. Through this campaign, Bord Bia will encourage people of all ages to stay active in their outdoor spaces by showing how easy and fun it can be. Bord Bia have worked with Fiann O‘Nualláin to develop videos and content for social media to showcase gardening as an all year round activity and to provide inspiration on looking after your garden space to have a bountiful, colourful display in the Spring. ✽
POTATOES - PREPARE TO BE SURPRISED The EU potato campaign is a three-year multi-country initiative with Belgium and France promoting potatoes to 18-34 year old millennials commenced in 2020. Europatat, the pan-European potato trade organisation is also a partner in the campaign. The recipe campaign (www. potato.ie), is primarily an online focused, social media campaign on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest channels. The results of the campaign to date have been very positive; Kantar World Panel measured a c.33% increase in potato value in the target age cohort. Bord Bia runs the mechanics of the campaign while 20% of the funding in Ireland is contributed by the IFA and the Irish Potato Federation. Planning for this year’s activity is now taking place, with the first of 3 planned activations starting in May. ✽
BREXIT ACTION PLAN A webinar; ‘Bord Bia’s UK Import Controls Webinar’ was held on the 21st March, this is available on the Bord Bia website. Review the latest edition of Bord Bia’s Brexit Action Plan to ensure you are ready for the new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and customs controls for food and drink products imported into Great Britain from the 1st of October, 2021. ✽
SPRING TROLLEY FAIR Bord Bia hosted the annual Spring Trolley Fair, supporting the Irish Hardy Nurserystock Association (IHNSA) in conjunction with the IFA on Tuesday March 9th. This annual event marks the start of the nursery season, and this year was hosted on a dedicated platform with 100 attendees at the virtual event. The event was opened by Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy, followed by the presentation of two pieces of research, conducted by The Thinking House; the IPSOS ‘Value of the Garden Market Report 2020’ and a qualitative study, ’Preparing for a Post-Covid19 Horticultural World’, measuring behaviours of new and returning gardeners during Covid restrictions and how to retain them as consumers. This was followed by one to one buyer meetings between visitors and the twelve nursery exhibitors. In advance of the event, training and mentoring sessions were offered to the exhibitors, including guidance on using the specialised platform, video production training with Carr Communications and mentoring with James Burke and Associates on presenting and negotiating in a virtual setting. ✽
Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED
13
