Difficulties for British farmers as a result of Brexit present an opportunity for Irish farmers, according to Bord Bia chief executive Tara McCarthy.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, McCarthy said product and market diversification will be very important for Irish agri-food groups who need to build on they’re insight and innovation capabilities.
Understanding The Consumer
"We have some pockets of excellence in that and it's an area that we are investing in significantly to make sure that we capture the value that the market holds for us," she told the Irish Independent.
"Capturing value means being associated with the customers who pay the highest price or give the longest and most sustainable return for our products.
"We need to move away from being associated with commodity products, through to being able to capture the value through understanding the market, to understanding the consumer."
She highlighted the cheddar cheese industry, one area most vulnerable to Brexit, that has the ability to produce other products such as butter or milk formulas.
While she acknowledged that it would be “quite a big deal and quite a huge investment” to transfer out of cheddar, she said, “If there are challenges for the UK dairy industry to their exports, you would analyse where those exports are going and possibly look at those opportunities for Irish dairy companies”.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
