Food Wise 2025 High Level Implementation Committee (HLIC) Meeting
14th January 2016
Attendance:
DAFM: Minister Coveney, Secretary General Aidan ODriscoll, Bríd Cannon, Brendan Gleeson, Cecil Beamish, Bill Callanan and Áine Kilroy
State Bodies: Gerry Boyle, (Teagasc), Aidan Cotter (Bord Bia), Michael Cantwell (EI) and Tara McCarthy (BIM)
Other Government Depts: Clare Dunne (DJEI)
Secretariat (DAFM): Sinéad McPhillips and Siobhán Dowling
Apologies: David Walsh (DECLG), Ken Spratt (DTTAS), Finbar Kelly (DPER) and Dara Lynott (EPA)
Minister Coveney welcomed John Moloney, Chair of the 2025 Agri Food Strategy Committee to the meeting.
Item 1: Minutes of the 25th November meeting
Minutes agreed.
Item 2: Human Capital
Nicola McCracken, Global Head of Talent and Reward at CRH made a presentation on Human Capital from an outside perspective looking at the agri food sector. Her presentation dealt with two priorities:
· Sourcing and Recruitment Strategy &
· Building solid management development processes.
G Boyle, A Cotter, T McCarthy and A Ward (Enterprise Ireland) made detailed presentations on what their respective agencies are doing on human capital and in particular the Food Wise 2025 actions taking place this year.
John Moloney opened the discussion. He stated that investing in people and attracting, retaining and developing talented people is crucial for this sector to succeed and grow. Food Wise 2025 endorses this approach and the delivery on the actions in the report will be a key driver and measure of the success of the sector over the next 10 years to 2025. It must start from the farmer right through the chain to marketing. He stressed the necessity for collaboration among State agencies and more joined up private public collaboration. This will drive innovation. The agri food sector must look at the current skills mix and this Committee and the sector must prioritise what the sector should look like in 2025. He suggested that a Human Capital subgroup be established focussing on the development of human capital, with representatives from the Department, agencies and the agri food sector.
Minister stated that the sector is doing a lot already on human capital and referred to the excellent work that the agencies are carrying out. Secretary General highlighted that joined up thinking is needed for the sector and acknowledged that food companies are also doing tremendous amount of work in this area. He suggested that an overall analysis of what the Department, the industry and the agencies are doing would be useful.
There was general agreement on the following areas:
· Peer networks from discussion groups at farm level to lean management for food companies
· Review of Green Certs (needs for farmers of the future)
· Bord Bia Marketing Fellowship (need for additional funding for more fellowships)
· BIM in talks with the Marine Survey Office on skills needs at producer level and in health and safety. BIM is examining all aspects of careers in the seafood industry.
· Particular skillsets are needed for upscaling and innovation
· Farmers need to look at themselves at entrepreneurs and their holdings as SMEs.
It was agreed that the Committee will reflect on the very informative presentations. Minister agreed that the issue of Human Capital should be discussed at further meetings. He thanked Ms McCracken and the agencies for their insights.
Item 3: Meat Sector
(i) Meat Sector
Philip Carroll (MII) accompanied by C Healy, J Ryan, J Horgan, J Hanley & J Hyland make a presentation on behalf of the meat sector. The delegation referred specifically to:
· Market access
· Producer efficiency and productivity
· Climate change
· Trade deals
· Investment needs – access to finance
· Competitiveness &
· Establishment of a Meat subgroup, chaired by DAFM and with industry and farmer participation to drive the specific actions for the meat sector outlined in Food Wise 2025 and to report back to the HLIC once a year.
MII also referred to: tissue tagging; sexed semen; expansion of Market access Unit in the Department and need for greater focus on sheep sector.
Minister referred to the expansion of the meat sector and said that the Department is making progress on access to the US and Chinese markets. He also referred to the new Bord Bia Offices in Singapore and Warsaw which will open later this year. Secretary General stressed the importance of the Meat Access Unit which meets the industry three times a year and the good work that it undertakes. The Department will look at the possibility of additional resources for the unit. The HLIC will reflect on how best to progress the specific meat sector actions in Food Wise.
(ii) Report of the Pig Industry Stakeholder Group
Dr Seán Brady presented the Report of the Pig Industry Stakeholder Group. He was accompanied by Jim Hanley and Maurice O’Brien. Report includes 65 recommendations aimed at improving the sector. Presentation highlighted (i) expensive vaccinations, (ii) TAMS funding and (iii) the need for immediate feedback from post-mortems, (iv) the salmonella control programme, (v) lean manufacturing and (vi) restoring premium price on the home market.
Secretary General thanked S Brady and the Committee for the comprehensive report. He explained that the Department has only rolled out the current TAMS, so that immediate change is unrealistic. The Department will look at changing parts of the programme depending on how some parts of TAMS are underspent and the possibility of an Implementation Group to drive the recommendations outlined in this Report. Teagasc agreed to examine ways of identifying and passing on birth information to processors that they have but stressed that they only record 60% of sows.
Item 4: Update on Prepared Consumer Foods
Discussion postponed to next meeting.
Item 5: Quarter 4 2015 Update of Food Wise 2025 Actions
A detailed report was circulated outlining an update on the 193 recommendations that were commenced or on-going in Quarter 4 2015.
Item 6: Environmental Analysis of Food Wise 2025
B Cannon gave an update on the Environmental Sustainability Sub Committee which has representatives from DAHG, DECLG, EPA, UCD, the agencies and the Department. The first meeting is scheduled for 19th January.
Item 7: AOB
(i) Enterprise Ireland Food Division Strategy 2015-2020
Due to time constraints, this was postponed to the next meeting.
(ii) Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 21st April at 10am.
Siobhán Dowling
Economics & Planning Division
15 January 2016