As part of a support strategy for Ireland’s food and drink producers in dealing with the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, Bord Bia is launching a €1 million marketing grant scheme. Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy (above) said food, drink and horticulture exports reached a record €13 billion last year, amounting to a 67 per cent growth in a decade.
McCarthy said the supports are “highly tailored” to tackle the impacts Covid-19 is having on the industry. Called Navigating Change, the strategy has been developed for the Bord Bia website allowing producers access to data on grants, market insights, business reports, expert webinars and podcasts. The deadline for grant scheme applications is April 16.
Bord Bia says the pandemic is affecting all aspects of the industry, with the food service industry the most severely impacted. In contrast, retail and grocery is experiencing dramatic increases in demand, but with many redundancies across Europe and the US, medium-term consumer spending is expected to reduce as consumers’ disposable income is impacted.
The State body will be involved in training and mentoring programmes, including future-proofing the industry and planning for a post Covid-19 future. Bord Bia will try and identify new behavioural norms which may emerge among consumers as a result of the pandemic. The scale of the challenges being faced are changing rapidly and so too must the supports.
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