The IFA national council has given the green light for the association to take a leading role in a new communications initiative for the agri-food industry.

The initiative called Project Connect received the backing of the IFA ‘in principle’ at a meeting in the Irish Farm Centre on Tuesday last.

A briefing document presented at the meeting claimed that an “IFA endorsement and commitment to this whole of industry initiative” would be “critical to its successful implementation”.

The aim of the project is to bring together the whole agri-food industry, producers and processors so that it can “communicate more effectively” and “improve [the] public perception of agriculture in Ireland”.

The document claimed that the “traditional generational connections to farming and agriculture” were “rapidly waning” and the sector was struggling to communicate and explain its position on environmental and climate change issues in particular.

While Bord Bia is helping to co-ordinate the initiative, the briefing document insisted that the new body would be “industry owned”.

The new entity will not be a representative organisation, the document stressed, and will not “limit or direct the core activities of any participant”.

The briefing document stated that a budget of “€4m plus per annum” will be required to support the new entity’s activities.