HARVEST
On target for
growth
Food Harvest 2020 was devised by the agri-food sector and it’s providing a valuable
road map to the challenges ahead, writes Frank Dillon
I
reland’s agriculture and food industry was at a low point when the industry came together with various stakeholders in 2009 to devise an ambitious plan under the title, Food Harvest 2020.
Launched the following year, it set targets to increase the value of primary output in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector by ¤1.5 billion a year, a 33 per cent
increase on previous levels. It also sought
to increase the value-added element in the
agri-food, fisheries and wood products sector by ¤3 billion and to achieve total exports from the sector of ¤12 million.
The plan was greeted with scepticism
from some quarters, but the industry is
now on course to achieve the objectives.
The food sector is on a roll. Annual growth
targets are being met and exports are already close to ¤10 billion. That’s before you
consider the huge impact that the abolition
of milk quotas in 2015 will have on the industry. Estimates suggest that this could result in a 50 per cent expansion of the dairy
sector by the end of the decade.
Quotas, which have been in place for 35
years, have acted as a brake on the sector,
but the industry is gearing up for expansion.
Recent moves by two of the largest companies in this sector, Glanbia and Kerry, bear
witness to this. Glanbia Food Ingredients is
currently constructing a plant in Belview on
the Kilkenny/Waterford border, which will
create more than 1,600 jobs in a massive
¤400 million investment. Kerry is establishing a new plant in Kildare, with the creation
of more than 1,000 jobs.
“We recently worked with Glanbia to
quantify the impact of the growth in their
milk supply,” says John Higgins of consultants EY. “Our analysis showed a pre-expansion economic impact of ¤1.54 billion
which supported 5,592 jobs across the
Sustainability: Irish Distillers
IrishDistillerscommitmentto
sustainabledevelopmentwas
oneofthereasonsitwas
invitedtobecomeoneofthe10
foundingparticipantsofthe
BordBiaOriginGreeninitiative,
avoluntaryprogrammethat
encouragesIrishfoodand
drinkmanufacturersto
operatesustainably.
Sustainabilityisakeypartof
thecultureofIrishDistillers
accordingtoitschiefexecutive
andchairmanAnna
Malmhake,whosays
responsibleproductionand
consumptionarecentralto
theirbusiness.Theoriginal
MidletonDistilleryinCork,now
aheritage centre,wasbuiltin
1825inanareaabundantwith
itstwokeyrawmaterials:it
wasintheheartoftheMunster
cerealgrowingregionandhad
waterfromtheDungourney
River.
Thecurrentoperating
distilleryisalsobasedin
Midletonanditproducestwo
maintypesofIrishwhiskey;pot
stillwhiskeywhichisis
distilledinbatchprocess,and
grainwhiskeywhichisdistilled
inacontinuousprocess
Thecompanyhasembarked
ona¤100millionexpansion
projectatitsMidletondistillery
whichwillseeproduction
14 |THE IRISH TIMES | March 26, 2014
capacitydoubled.
Around20percentofthe
¤100millioninvestmentis
directlyrelatedtoimproving
sustainabilitythroughreduced
environmentalimpact,suchas
increasedenergyandwater
efficiency,andimprovedrisk
management.
IrishDistillersrecentlyhad
itsJamesonbottleredesigned
sothatitweights30percent
less.Thishasresultedina
savingofmorethan435tonnes
ofglass.
Also,some98percentofall
packagingwastefromIrish
Distillers’bottlingplantin
Dublinisnowrecycled.
economy. The planned growth in milk supply is expected to boost those numbers by
¤509 million and 1,851 jobs respectively.
As Glanbia processes around 28 per cent of
the national milk pool, the economic impact of the national growth in milk production is clear.”
“Milk production has a significant impact nationall