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Northern Ireland has launched a partnership to give a harder sell to its food and drink. Ronan Hegarty reports
Northern Irish food and drink should be marketed on the strengths of its quality and innovation rather than under a generic Northern Irish brand.
This is one of the key findings of an influential report being put into practice by the newly created Food Strategy Implementation Partnership.
FSIP chairman Dan Flinter says that the group would be conducting research into what the perception of Northern Ireland was in the Republic of Ireland, GB and beyond and how this benefited or hindered NI producers.
However, its main focus is geared towards creating better quality market intelligence and supporting producers in terms of consumer trends. To achieve this, the group wants to improve communication through the supply chain, as the Curry Commission has striven to do in the UK.
Flinter says: “We need to establish a market-led, customer-focused agri-food industry. Companies need to know if they can sell their products in a particular marketplace, and can it be profitable?”
The Fit for Market report, approved by the government in January, sets out 31 recommendations to be acted on in the short and medium term. At one end of the spectrum, these are creating a small team of market development professionals to provide support for Northern Ireland firms, especially SMEs, wishing to grow their presence in key markets. At the same time, it will focus on establishing an overarching budget for the development of the food sector, from which all relevant initiatives should be financed.
The main purpose of the FSIP is to make best use of the resources already out there and find common ground that all interested parties can work on.
The group is helping Food from Britain to engage more actively with Northern Ireland companies. A FFB executive has been assigned responsibility for working with NI firms. Collaborative working arrangements are also due to be established with the Welsh Development Agency, Scottish Enterprise and Bord Bia.
The government-run trade support agency InvestNI has also established a permanent presence in London. From there it will both gather market information for Northern Irish exporters as well help build relationships and facilitate meetings between suppliers and UK buyers.
To date, progress has been rapid. Flinter reports. “We have already begun work on the first nine proposals. And talking to suppliers, the main emotion that comes across in the first place is surprise we haven’t gone away already. They have given us plenty of encouragement to stick at it and I have definitely noticed a growing sense of confidence among them that we can deliver what say we can.”
The recommendations set out in the report should be implemented by the end of next year. However this will not be the end of the group’s work. By then, plans will have been made on how best to continue its strategy.
Northern Irish food and drink should be marketed on the strengths of its quality and innovation rather than under a generic Northern Irish brand.
This is one of the key findings of an influential report being put into practice by the newly created Food Strategy Implementation Partnership.
FSIP chairman Dan Flinter says that the group would be conducting research into what the perception of Northern Ireland was in the Republic of Ireland, GB and beyond and how this benefited or hindered NI producers.
However, its main focus is geared towards creating better quality market intelligence and supporting producers in terms of consumer trends. To achieve this, the group wants to improve communication through the supply chain, as the Curry Commission has striven to do in the UK.
Flinter says: “We need to establish a market-led, customer-focused agri-food industry. Companies need to know if they can sell their products in a particular marketplace, and can it be profitable?”
The Fit for Market report, approved by the government in January, sets out 31 recommendations to be acted on in the short and medium term. At one end of the spectrum, these are creating a small team of market development professionals to provide support for Northern Ireland firms, especially SMEs, wishing to grow their presence in key markets. At the same time, it will focus on establishing an overarching budget for the development of the food sector, from which all relevant initiatives should be financed.
The main purpose of the FSIP is to make best use of the resources already out there and find common ground that all interested parties can work on.
The group is helping Food from Britain to engage more actively with Northern Ireland companies. A FFB executive has been assigned responsibility for working with NI firms. Collaborative working arrangements are also due to be established with the Welsh Development Agency, Scottish Enterprise and Bord Bia.
The government-run trade support agency InvestNI has also established a permanent presence in London. From there it will both gather market information for Northern Irish exporters as well help build relationships and facilitate meetings between suppliers and UK buyers.
To date, progress has been rapid. Flinter reports. “We have already begun work on the first nine proposals. And talking to suppliers, the main emotion that comes across in the first place is surprise we haven’t gone away already. They have given us plenty of encouragement to stick at it and I have definitely noticed a growing sense of confidence among them that we can deliver what say we can.”
The recommendations set out in the report should be implemented by the end of next year. However this will not be the end of the group’s work. By then, plans will have been made on how best to continue its strategy.
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