Pulling on the jersey for Ireland is something that inspired Dubliner Deirdre Ryan from a young age. Her aim was to follow in the footsteps of her hero Sonia O’Sullivan, but Deirdre wasn’t suited to long-distance running. Instead she took up the high jump, a sport that saw her place sixth in the world championships in 2011. Deirdre also represented Ireland in the London Olympics in 2012.
“When I retired from sport I had to take stock and figure out what to do next,” Deirdre tells Irish Country Living. 
“I had a keen interest in food, health and wellbeing. As an athlete, you become health obsessed; about fuelling your body with sufficient energy and protein. I was interested in the environment, the food supply chain and the provenance of food.”
Having lived in Germany for four years during her athletic career, Deirdre met a number of people that worked for Bord Bia. So to combine her passion for food and sustainability, when she retired from sport in 2014, Deirdre applied to do the Origin Green Ambassador programme.
You get to see how important sustainability is for the Irish food sector
“It is a two-year programme where you change every six months to work in a new country and company. That experience propelled me in to the depths of working in sustainability in global food companies.
“You get to see how important sustainability is for the Irish food sector,” Deirdre says. “The travelling is a big commitment, but if you are ambitious and keen to learn, it can be really rewarding. I was placed with the purchasing company for Subway, then Metro retail and wholesale group in Germany and then Nestle in Switzerland.
“It was insightful to get a deep understanding into what sustainability meant for them; even in 2014, Metro had 20 people working on sustainability.”
Deirdre Ryan is a former Irish high jump athlete.
After completing the Origin Green Ambassador programme, Deirdre worked for Ornua, then went on to become head of corporate social responsibility for Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland, where she led the development and implementation of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s sustainability strategy.
We would have looked at human rights in the supply chain as well as focused a lot of attention to reducing packaging
“For example, on the sourcing side at Lidl we had all Bord Bia quality-assured meat and would have encouraged our supply chain to be members of Origin.
“We would have looked at human rights in the supply chain as well as focused a lot of attention to reducing packaging.
“We had solar PV installed on all our stores and sourced green electricity. It’s amazing that even converting all lights to LED made such a big saving.
“We also implemented a food waste programme that connected all our stores to charities to donate surplus food.”
People come on board when they understand why you do it and see the benefits
Deirdre says that making changes like this in a large organisation is very rewarding, but needs leadership.
“People come on board when they understand why you do it and see the benefits. While sustainability often drives efficiency, where there are no financial benefits it can be difficult and you need to convey reputation building and risk management.”
In February this year, Deirdre made the move from Lidl to become director of Origin Green with Bord Bia. She says she had enough time in the office to get to know the team before COVID-19 restrictions came in and that everyone is working well together from their homes.
Deirdre Ryan competing during the qualifying round of the women's high jump at the London 2012 Olympic Games. \ Stephen McCarthy/SPORTSFILE
As director of Origin Green, she is managing all the quality assurance programmes at farm and company level.
“At the moment there’s a team of 18 of us, which includes the quality assurance team, scheme managers, data team and the team working with Origin Green companies. We are managing the programmes and make sure we bring that value back by communicating the message in key markets and customers.”
Deirdre is working on the Origin Green Strategy across four pillars.
1 Deepening membership
engagement
“That is the farm to fork side, they are the people driving the program forward.”
2 Sustainability leadership
“The second pillar is about making Ireland a world leader in sustainability, we are developing the charter to become more robust.”
3 Improvements
“The third pillar is about driving sustainability improvements.”
4 Market access
“The fourth one is about increasing market access and value for members.”
At the moment there are 320 companies in the Origin Green programme. Some new initiatives to safeguard Origin Green’s continued evolution include new sustainability credits at the manufacturing level of the programme. Within this structure, companies that have reached a predetermined higher threshold will be designated as “Gold Members”.
“An example of progress at farm level is the recently launched Bord Bia Farm Feedback Report, which provides farmers with the detailed breakdown of their carbon footprint and recommended action to reduce their impact.Seven thousand reports have been sent since they launched late last year.”
Bord Bia’s response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is something Deirdre’s team is working on also. Although she admits that it will be a challenge in the face of the forecasted economic shocks.
“Health and wellbeing has been brought to the fore of people’s consciousness. It is a really important time for us to dial up that message of sustainability during that rebuilding and regrowth. Origin Green is all about future proofing and building your reputation.”
Read more
Graduation day: where next?
Pulling on the jersey for Ireland is something that inspired Dubliner Deirdre Ryan from a young age. Her aim was to follow in the footsteps of her hero Sonia O’Sullivan, but Deirdre wasn’t suited to long-distance running. Instead she took up the high jump, a sport that saw her place sixth in the world championships in 2011. Deirdre also represented Ireland in the London Olympics in 2012.
“When I retired from sport I had to take stock and figure out what to do next,” Deirdre tells Irish Country Living.
“I had a keen interest in food, health and wellbeing. As an athlete, you become health obsessed; about fuelling your body with sufficient energy and protein. I was interested in the environment, the food supply chain and the provenance of food.”
Having lived in Germany for four years during her athletic career, Deirdre met a number of people that worked for Bord Bia. So to combine her passion for food and sustainability, when she retired from sport in 2014, Deirdre applied to do the Origin Green Ambassador programme.
You get to see how important sustainability is for the Irish food sector
“It is a two-year programme where you change every six months to work in a new country and company. That experience propelled me in to the depths of working in sustainability in global food companies.
“You get to see how important sustainability is for the Irish food sector,” Deirdre says. “The travelling is a big commitment, but if you are ambitious and keen to learn, it can be really rewarding. I was placed with the purchasing company for Subway, then Metro retail and wholesale group in Germany and then Nestle in Switzerland.
“It was insightful to get a deep understanding into what sustainability meant for them; even in 2014, Metro had 20 people working on sustainability.”
Deirdre Ryan is a former Irish high jump athlete.
After completing the Origin Green Ambassador programme, Deirdre worked for Ornua, then went on to become head of corporate social responsibility for Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland, where she led the development and implementation of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s sustainability strategy.
We would have looked at human rights in the supply chain as well as focused a lot of attention to reducing packaging
“For example, on the sourcing side at Lidl we had all Bord Bia quality-assured meat and would have encouraged our supply chain to be members of Origin.
“We would have looked at human rights in the supply chain as well as focused a lot of attention to reducing packaging.
“We had solar PV installed on all our stores and sourced green electricity. It’s amazing that even converting all lights to LED made such a big saving.
“We also implemented a food waste programme that connected all our stores to charities to donate surplus food.”
People come on board when they understand why you do it and see the benefits
Deirdre says that making changes like this in a large organisation is very rewarding, but needs leadership.
“People come on board when they understand why you do it and see the benefits. While sustainability often drives efficiency, where there are no financial benefits it can be difficult and you need to convey reputation building and risk management.”
In February this year, Deirdre made the move from Lidl to become director of Origin Green with Bord Bia. She says she had enough time in the office to get to know the team before COVID-19 restrictions came in and that everyone is working well together from their homes.
Deirdre Ryan competing during the qualifying round of the women's high jump at the London 2012 Olympic Games. \ Stephen McCarthy/SPORTSFILE
As director of Origin Green, she is managing all the quality assurance programmes at farm and company level.
“At the moment there’s a team of 18 of us, which includes the quality assurance team, scheme managers, data team and the team working with Origin Green companies. We are managing the programmes and make sure we bring that value back by communicating the message in key markets and customers.”
Deirdre is working on the Origin Green Strategy across four pillars.
1 Deepening membership
engagement
“That is the farm to fork side, they are the people driving the program forward.”
2 Sustainability leadership
“The second pillar is about making Ireland a world leader in sustainability, we are developing the charter to become more robust.”
3 Improvements
“The third pillar is about driving sustainability improvements.”
4 Market access
“The fourth one is about increasing market access and value for members.”
At the moment there are 320 companies in the Origin Green programme. Some new initiatives to safeguard Origin Green’s continued evolution include new sustainability credits at the manufacturing level of the programme. Within this structure, companies that have reached a predetermined higher threshold will be designated as “Gold Members”.
“An example of progress at farm level is the recently launched Bord Bia Farm Feedback Report, which provides farmers with the detailed breakdown of their carbon footprint and recommended action to reduce their impact.Seven thousand reports have been sent since they launched late last year.”
Bord Bia’s response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is something Deirdre’s team is working on also. Although she admits that it will be a challenge in the face of the forecasted economic shocks.
“Health and wellbeing has been brought to the fore of people’s consciousness. It is a really important time for us to dial up that message of sustainability during that rebuilding and regrowth. Origin Green is all about future proofing and building your reputation.”
Read more
Graduation day: where next?
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