All the latest news from Bord Bia

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 (GROMóR) AND HER CHILDREN ROBYN AND JUDE WITH DERMOT O'NEILL engagement is on Instagram, with a reach of 5,628 but 2,552 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: ● Supply chain ● Emerging risks

● UK customer relationships ● Customs and tariffs ● Financial resilience ● Marketing 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: ● 74% of respondents believe they have made progress in preparing for Brexit outcomes ● 85% are actively seeking to expand their business into new markets ● 97% remain committed to Ireland as a supply base ● 54% 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; developed countries across the globe, including growers, researchers, ANDREW DOYLE (MINISTER OF STATE AT DEPARTMENT OF AGRIGICULTURE, FOOD & THE MARINE); MICHAEL HOEY producers, traders, processors and manufacturers, will attend the (PRESIDENT OF THE IRISH POTATO FEDERATION) 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. ✽

STRAWBERRY SALES SOAR AS WE CELEBRATE STRAWBERRY SEASON

The Irish public’s appetite for luscious red strawberries would seem to be insatiable as new Kantar World Panel fi gures reveal that we spent close to €96m on these delectable berries. This was brought about by a 5% increase in strawberry sales across last year when compared to the previous year. These fi gures represent a monster 10.5 thousand tonnes of strawberries sold direct into Irish households, and don’t include the volumes consumed outside the home, on-thego, in hotels, restaurants and through caterers. Released fi gures support the sector’s move from celebrating a traditional National Strawberry Week to generating excitement around strawberries throughout the entire Irish growing season (May to November). The campaign’s promotional activities kicked off with many strawberry related initiatives taking place either side of the June bank holiday weekend.

Celebrate Strawberry Season, in association with the Irish Soft Fruit Growers Association, and with support from Bord Bia and the IFA, aims to encourage the public to enjoy more strawberries throughout the whole Irish season. The celebration is supported by a public information campaign which includes innovative ways of including strawberries at all meal times throughout the day. The campaign uses TV, radio and social media channels to increase consumer knowledge and raise awareness of the Irish strawberries season, with competitions, primary school activities and an interactive website featuring delicious seasonal recipe suggestions. Keep an eye out for Celebrate Strawberry Season promotional packs in stores near you and visit www.bestinseason.ie for more specially created strawberry themed recipes. ✽

EU FUNDED PROMOTIONS

The EU provides funding (up to 80%) to support the generic promotion of horticulture produce and gardening activity. Earlier this year the EU put out calls for applications from member states for EU promotional campaigns supported by EU funds for 2018. Bord Bia, working closely with the potato and amenity sectors, submitted two applications by the deadline in April. One is for potato promotion over a two year period 2018 to 2020. In addition, an application for funding from the EU to run a gardening campaign over the same period was submitted.

Let’s grow – With Plants from Europe is a promotions programme designed to increase the sales of garden plants to show that gardening can be easy and fun and highlights the health benefi ts of gardening. The campaigns will concentrate on digital advertising, social media and public relations. The outcomes of these two applications, if successful, will be known in October and will build on the ongoing promotional campaigns in these sectors. Bord Bia is currently running two EU funded campaigns in the horticulture sector, for mushrooms and potatoes. ✽

AMENITY EXPORT PROGRAMME

Bord Bia supports amenity sector exporters through the Amenity Export Programme. The Programme which is underpinned through mentoring support is targeted at amenity horticulture business owners, who wish to build on existing export sales or enter export markets for the fi rst time. With the advent of Brexit and the importance of the UK market to exporters in this sector the support is being amplifi ed and targeted where needed.

Nursery stock producers in Ireland are potentially faced with many challenges and opportunities as a result of Brexit. Whilst it is diffi cult at this stage to identify the extent of those challenges, nursery stock producers can in the meantime work on improving their business processes and improve their competency in marketing and sales, enabling them to be ready for future challenges. Some trials of the eff ects of lean productivity systems are being carried out to investigate their potential for the sector. The value of amenity exports increased to €17.9m in 2017, with hardy nursery stock being the biggest sector at €7m. ✽

FOOD DUDES AND 7 A DAY AT BLOOM

The Food Dudes’ Healthy Eating Hub at Bloom allowed kids to experience the programme in a living classroom setting. Families learned fun facts about the Irish horticulture industry and learned how to improve their diet by fi lling up on some fresh fruits and vegetables. Families were given the opportunity to engage and take part in one or more of our interactive educational tasks, including: ● Learning about seasonality and identifying what Irish fruit and vegetables are in season using Bord Bia’s Best in

Season calendar ● Constructing a food pyramid and/or 7-a-day rainbow referring to Healthy Ireland’s new healthy eating guidelines ● Exploring sensory science and forming a personal sensory panel with simulating family food games ● Learning why ‘sometimes foods’ are bad and how to beat the Junk Punks by eating more fruit and vegetables every day ● Learning how to gradually achieve 7-a-day by eating ‘Just One More’ in a fun gastronomy fi lled demo. ✽