The majority of consumers do not know what 'suckler' beef means and more work needs to be done on educating them, according to Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy.

A protected geographic indicator (PGI) has been put forward by Bord Bia for Irish suckler beef, but speaking on the Irish Farmers Journal 2020 Vision webinar series, McCarthy admitted that there was a problem, as research showed that consumers did not know what suckler beef actually meant.

PGI debate

There has been much debate surrounding the PGI, with some farm organisations saying that the definition of suckler is too all-encompassing.

However, McCarthy was addressing a bigger problem in how to engage consumers to buy the product.

“We'd be working with the consumer and the market to actually try and see, can we build a business case of this, can we articulate this in a way that is meaningful to consumers,” she said.

At the moment, the consumer doesn't know enough about it

“I know this may be a controversial thing to say, but it's not about how good we are at producing it, it's actually how meaningful it is to the consumer who's buying it.

“At the moment, the consumer doesn't know enough about it [suckler beef]. Where they might appreciate it, it would be Germany and Italy, and what we're now doing is investing, to make sure that we can exploit that if it's possible.”