Bord Bia has announced that it is collaborating with major Irish retailers to raise awareness of the range and availability of organic produce from Ireland among consumers.
Bord Bia highlighted that it has developed digital and in-store promotional materials for the Organics from Ireland campaign, which can be used by retailers to highlight their organic Irish beef, lamb, dairy, seafood, eggs, fresh produce and prepared consumer foods.
The campaign will appear in-store across Tesco, SuperValu and on Aldi and Lidl social media channels from July to September.
Fiona Twomey, retail specialist, Bord Bia, said, “We have some wonderful organic producers in Ireland and we’re pleased to be able to support their growth through this retail partnership.
"Organically produced food is highly trusted by Irish consumers, however, Bord Bia research conducted last year found that when faced with a choice between organic and local, over 66% of Irish shoppers have a preference for local. Based upon this insight, Bord Bia initiated this pilot project to raise awareness among consumers of the availability of organic food from Ireland so that they can choose both organic and local.”
Research Findings
The group noted that Ireland’s organically farmed area is currently 1.6% of our total agricultural area.
Under the government’s Food Vision 2030 strategy, the aim is to increase this area to 7.5% by 2030.
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Research commissioned by Bord Bia in 2021 found that the greatest opportunity for growth in the organic market is through the retail channel where sales of organic produce have grown 19% since 2019.
This growth is expected to continue over the next five years.
According to Kantar, retail sales of organic food products was valued at €221 million over a 52 week period, ending October 2021, up 2.7% from 2020.
Twomey continued, “Bord Bia is committed to supporting the growth of the Irish organic sector and our investment in market development and promotional activities for organics will increase in tandem with production growth.
"Following its completion, Bord Bia will fully evaluate this campaign, with the aim of running similar organic campaigns in the future.”
Other Activities
Bord Bia outlined that it has a number of activities underway this year to support the sector.
This includes a combined Ministerial-led trade mission to Germany to 'better understand the lucrative German organic market'.
The visit will coincide with BIOFACH, the world’s leading trade fair for organic food, taking place from 26 July to 29 July, where Bord Bia will host the Origin Green Ireland stand.
Bord Bia highlighted that it is currently running several consumer campaigns to promote Irish organic produce in continental Europe: Irish organic beef promotions will continue to run in-store with Dutch retailer, Vomar; three media campaigns promoting Irish organic salmon will run in 2022 targeting French and German consumers, while a further two campaigns to promote Irish organic mussels will run in retail outlets across France.
Organic Awards
In October, Bord Bia will host the biennial organic awards in association with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which celebrates the achievements of the increasing number of Irish organic food and drink growers, producers, and manufacturers.
In addition, Bord Bia will continue to build understanding of the organic market through the provision of organic retail sales data for Irish companies, and conduct market and consumer research in key markets, including Sweden and Denmark.
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© 2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more fresh news, click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
