All the latest news from Bord Bia

DREAM GARDENS AT BLOOM

For virtual Bloom 2021, Bord Bia worked with seven Bloom award-winning show garden designers to create seven designs that the public could implement in their own gardens. Easy Steps to Dream Gardens included a full suite of plans, planting plans, and hints and tips available on the Bord Bia Bloom website.

The initiative was supported by a concerted social media campaign, and with point of sale in 103 garden centres nationwide. All of the plants listed were readily available from Irish nurseries.

To demonstrate how the designs work in reality, how they would suit the average sized garden, and to encourage the public to engage with their gardens at home, Bord Bia brought two of the Dream Gardens to life at Bloom 2022: The Nature Enthusiast’s Garden by Jane McCorkell, and The Shared Spaces Family Garden by Nicola Haines. They were not judged as show gardens.

This campaign has proven to be a huge success, with both the industry and the public. It resulted in more than 19,383 visits to the Dream Gardens section of the website alone, and over 18,500 downloads of the garden designs and planting plans in the 12 months from June 2021 to June 2022. ✽

GREEN CITIES AT BLOOM

Bord Bia sponsored a large Green Cities garden at the 2022 Bloom Show, as part of the three-year EU cofunded Green Cities for a Sustainable Europe campaign. The garden was a visual representation of the type of green landscaping it would be ideal to include as part of new construction projects around Ireland, using Irish grown plants. It was manned throughout the show, to answer queries from the public, to explain the rationale behind the garden, and to emphasize the environmental, health, biodiversity, and economic benefits of green spaces in cities, as well the importance of using local plants. The garden, designed by James Purdy and installed by Silverstream Landscapes, generated significant interest from the public due to the flowing lines and naturalistic look.

The garden partnered with Dublin and Limerick city councils, who used the opportunity to showcase their own green initiatives. The garden was well received by the public, and achieved substantial coverage in the press, in online media, and in video media. Further regional coverage is expected in the coming weeks. Several useful contacts have also been made with county councils, including those who would have liked to take part, but were unable to due to staffing issues. ✽

MUSHROOM PROMOTION IN THE UK

Bord Bia has been working with CMP, Monaghan Mushrooms, Walsh Mushrooms, and producer organisations to deliver a promotion in the UK, to boost mushroom sales in this important market for Irish mushrooms. The Irish mushroom industry relies on the UK export market for 85% of its sales. Annually, 60,000 tonnes of mushrooms are exported to the UK, worth approximately €151 million in 2021.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity with special responsibility for horticulture, Senator Pippa Hackett, secured €210,000 of funding from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) fund to support the Irish mushroom sector.

This BAR funding of €210,000 supports a sectoral promotional campaign that seeks to ensure that UK consumers are dynamically reminded of the nutritional and taste benefits of cooking with mushrooms. This exciting campaign of TV ads (June), social media activity (July-December), and outdoor activity (October) is designed to increase consumption of Irish mushrooms in the UK this summer/autumn. ✽

BODY AND SOUL EVENT 17TH-19TH JUNE 2022

ABOVE: LORCAN BOURKE AND AOIFE KENNEDY FROM BORD BIA PICTURED BESIDE CAMPAIGN AMBASSADORS EOIN SHEEHAN AND KWANGHI CHAN AT THE BODY AND SOUL FESTIVAL IN BALLINLOUGH CASTLE, CO. WESTMEATH.

ABOVE: CATHERINE KLIMOVA, MICHAL SLAWSKI, LORCAN BOURKE, AOIFE KENNEDY AND MIKE NEARY FROM BORD BIA LAUNCHED THE LIFE IS BETTER WITH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES CAMPAIGN IN BITES BY KWANGHI'S RESTAURANT IN MAY 2022.

ABOVE: TARA MC CARTHY CEO BORD BIA, MICHAEL HOEY FROM COUNTRY CREST AND MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND THE MARINE CHARLIE MCCONALOGUE LAUNCHED THE WORLD POTATO CONGRESS IN DUBLIN WHICH TOOK PLACE FROM 30TH MAY UNTIL 1ST JUNE 2022.

EU FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CAMPAIGN – 12TH MAY 2022

WORLD POTATO CONGRESS BORD BIA BLOOM 2022 IN NUMBERS

● Over 110,000 visitors, including 15,000 children attended the festival.

● The prestigious judging panel comprised of 15 Irish and international horticultural experts, who awarded more than 78 awards to show garden designers, amateur postcard garden designers; nurseries and floral artists.

● Three new garden designers struck gold for the first time at Bord Bia

Bloom.

● There were over 1,200 potato plants in the Eat Well Garden.

● Seven new products were launched in the Bord Bia Food

Village.

● Over 10,000 Irish plants were sold in the Quality Mark Plant Village.

● This year’s show featured 19 show

gardens, nine postcard gardens

and 17 nursery displays, over 80 food and drink producers and 130 retailers.

● Almost 17,000 people availed of

Bord Bia’s free Shuttle Bus to and from Bord Bia Bloom.

● More than 5,000 plants were left for safe keeping in the Plant Créche while their owners explored the festival.

● Over 250 retail and foodservice buyers with a combined buying power of €20 billion met with 80plus Irish food and drink companies at the Bord Bia trade breakfast.

● 23 children took part in the first ‘Learn to Cook with Neven’ demonstration at the Quality

Kitchen Stage.

● A total of 3,800 people worked on site over the five days, including 100 Bord Bia staff volunteers.

● It takes 14 days to clear the Bord

Bia Bloom site.