Following what was seen as a favourable budget for farmers in which Minister for Agriculture Creed can claim to have delivered, this week he ventured once again into the world of promoting Irish agri-food abroad. As Ciarán Lenehan reports, the first stop was the biannual trade show SIAL in Paris, followed by a series of visits to major British retailers. The plan is to visit north Africa in early November to focus on dairy and beef products into countries like Algeria.

The minister’s attendance on trade missions and events gives the participating companies a certain gravitas in the eyes of the people these businesses are trying to impress. It also sends a message of joined-up thinking at a national level on producing and delivering the best possible produce for export customers.

What a ministerial meeting with the major supermarkets in the UK can achieve is less clearly understood. For a start, most UK supermarkets have a strong national branding theme. Country-of-origin identification typically penalises Irish farmers because we are a net exporter and we should remember that when we see national branding loudly proclaimed, it can work against us elsewhere.

The ability of the minister to shape the buying policy of corporate retailers is further limited by the fact that they at best deal with Irish export companies or, as is more likely, their UK-based sister companies. It is worth remembering that seven out of the top 10 supermarket groups don’t stock any Irish beef as they carry exclusively UK-origin beef. Of those that don’t stock exclusively UK origin beef, Sainsbury’s still has around 90% UK origin, Tesco 75% to 80%, and Asda around 60%. Even if Ireland picks up all of the non-UK part of their beef offering, it is still small.

Dairy side

On the dairy side, we do have a more centralised structure, with Ornua and Bord Bia representing the interests of a number of Irish dairy processors on international dairy markets.

With cheddar cheese a big seller in the UK, buyers of Irish product and consumers need continuing reassurance of product quality and standards. Where the minister and his officials can best serve the industry in opening new international markets, something that is done at a political level in the first instance, then followed up by officials agreeing the protocols.

A good example of this was the opening of the US for manufacturing beef earlier this year. It was a long process, but it was on Creed’s watch that the breakthrough came. Then he was pointing out that securing this meant “there is opportunity for industry to capitalise on this potentially significant market outlet for Irish beef”. He has also visited China and just last week announced the opening of Iran for sheepmeat.

This, along with securing favourable trade deals, is what the minister can really bring to our industry. While calling on UK supermarkets doesn’t necessarily do any harm, our expectations on what this can achieve have to be limited.

Nevertheless, as the Brexit clouds gather, ensuring relationships are managed must be top priority because we do have a special relationship with the UK. Often a ministerial visit can be the first step, but engagement between companies looking to trade product is the necessary follow-up required.

Global players

The attendance of global players at the SIAL trade show with their eyes on the high-value European beef and dairy market once again serves as a wake-up call for our industry. The fact the Brazilians are in Brussels this week proclaiming the quality of their beef once again highlights the challenge that exists to differentiate our product. They will no doubt be demanding higher EU beef quotas and access to a UK market post-Brexit. Brexit budget grants or not, our minister and exporting companies must rise to the challenge for Irish farmers.