BORD BIA / 02 GROMÓR 2018 GARDENING PROMOTION The gardening season got off to a slow start this year, with cold weather in March and April extending into early May, but the season is at least in full swing now, with both nurseries and garden centres reporting busy trade. GroMór 2018 was launched in late April with a photo shoot and press release featuring campaign ambassador gardening expert Dermot O’Neill and model and mother of two Sarah McGovern with her children. GroMór 2018 is a nationwide campaign aimed at encouraging everyone to visit their local garden centres, buy Irish plants and get growing. Online results to date have been impressive. On Facebook there is a weekly reach of 33,829 and the strongest SARAH MCGOVERN (GROMó R) AND HER CHILDREN engagement is on Instagram, with a reach of 5,628 but 2,552 ROBYN AND JUDE WITH DERMOT O'NEILL engagements from early May to early June. A feature of this this year’s campaign is a focus on three different garden designs: Birds and Bees was the theme on the May bank holiday, with Blooming Gorgeous for mid-June and Brighten up your Doorstep for mid-July. Each design has an attached plant list, with the intention of helping to provide more metrics on the effect of the GroMór promotion. To date for the season, nearly 10% of the website visits have been to the Birds and Bees design. Check out the website at www.gromor.ie or join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. An application has been submitted by Bord Bia to the EU, seeking co-funding for a long term promotional campaign for gardening, which if successful, will benefit all stakeholders. ✽
BORD BIA’S 2018 BREXIT BAROMETER RESULTS Bord Bia recently launched its 2018 Brexit Barometer report. It is a comprehensive survey of 117 Irish food, drink and horticulture companies, representing 48% of the sector’s exporters to the United Kingdom. The purpose of the Brexit Barometer is to assess the sector’s progress as it prepares for the UK’s exit from the European Union, and in doing so, provide a factual basis from which to inform company actions and Bord Bia programmes. The 2018 Brexit Barometer questioned participants on Brexit readiness, along with six key Brexit issues that face the sector: ●S upply chain ●E merging risks
●U K customer relationships ●C ustoms and tariffs ●F inancial resilience ●M arketing diversification The Brexit Barometer concludes with a Brexit Plan Template, available to Bord Bia client companies, together with recommendations related to each of these six key Brexit issues. Topline outcomes included: ●7 4% of respondents believe they have made progress in preparing for Brexit outcomes ●8 5% are actively seeking to expand their business into new markets ●9 7% remain committed to Ireland as a supply base ●5 4% have tailored marketing strategies specifically for the UK market For more details on the survey visit the Bord Bia website at bordbia.ie ✽
WORLD POTATO CONGRESS 2021 In 2017 the Irish Potato Federation submitted a bid to the World Potato Congress to hold the World Potato Congress in Ireland in 2021. The bid was supported by Bord Bia, DAFM, Teagasc and the potato industry. The bid was successful and early planning has now commenced for the event which will be held in the RDS in May 2021. In March the winning bid was announced at the RDS by the Minister of State Andrew Doyle TD. Also in attendance were Romain Cools from Belgium who is president of the World Potato Congress, Liam Glennon the Ireland Congress Committee’s chairman, and Michael Hoey who is the president of the Irish Potato Federation. It is envisaged that 1,000 delegates, from developing and ROMAIN COOLS (WORLD POTATO CONGRESS PRESIDENT0; ANDREW DOYLE (MINISTER OF STATE AT DEPARTMENT OF developed countries across the globe, including growers, researchers, AGRIGICULTURE, FOOD & THE MARINE); MICHAEL HOEY (PRESIDENT OF THE IRISH POTATO FEDERATION) producers, traders, processors and manufacturers, will attend the congress. The Irish Potato Federation has also secured the simultaneous hosting of the Europatat Congress, which is the annual congress of the European association of the potato trade. Both events will become a week-long focus on the potato, the third most important food crop in terms of global consumption. See also Lorcan Burke’s review in the Edibles section on The World Potato Congress, which was held in Peru recently. ✽
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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Summer 2018
