Ireland’s agri-food sector has been sitting in a haze of uncertainty since the 2 April announcement (and subsequent announcement of a 90-day pause) of 20% tariffs on United States-bound exports from Ireland and all European Union (EU) member states.
The European Commission is currently in negotiation mode as it attempts to solve matters diplomatically, but if these tariffs go ahead, we can expect that there will be retaliatory tariffs on American imports like cereals, clothes, meat and wine.
Only time will tell how things play out, but we have reason to be worried: Ireland is a food-producing nation, largely focused on export. Earlier this year, Bord Bia announced that Irish food and drink exports reached a record €17bn in value.
The new tariffs will have a serious impact on Irish producers who export to the United States, but it will likely also have a knock-on economic effect on all who produce food and drink.
According to the CSO, in 2023 the United States was our largest export partner with exports totalling €54bn. Two -thirds of this value came from medical, pharmaceutical and chemical products.
Within six weeks, the Government aims to have a trade diversification plan in place to help Irish businesses. But what can we do in the meantime?
Can Irish consumers help our agri-food producers overcome these challenges – or at least find a meaningful way to show our support?
On 4 March, the United States imposed similar tariffs (25%) on Canadian exports. The Canadian government’s response was quick and decisive, but it was the collective actions of Canadian consumers which were most inspiring.
A “Buy Canadian” campaign kicked off throughout the country. Provincial liquor stores stopped bringing in American liquors. Shoppers actively sought out Canadian alternatives to American products.
Through government-imposed counter-tariffs on American goods, combined with the “Buy Canadian” campaign, the choice for consumers to support Canadian businesses was simplified. Counter-tariffs increase the price of American goods in Canadian shops, making them less desirable than the more-reasonably priced (and, now, well-labelled) Canadian products.
In Ireland, we already have a recognisable symbol to show if food has been produced here – the Bord Bia Quality Assurance mark. However, as a semi-state agency within the EU, Bord Bia cannot use their quality assurance scheme to specifically say “Buy Irish”, as this is against EU state aid rules.
This doesn’t mean, though, that Irish consumers can’t rise up to show their support to our agri-food industry. We may not have the buying power of 300 million Americans, but we can make informed choices during our weekly shop to better ensure we “Buy Irish”.
Ardkeen Quality Food Store, Waterford
The Jephson family in Waterford has been publicly supporting “local” for decades. They operate Ardkeen Quality Food Store, which is a supermarket with a difference. They base their food and grocery offering around locally-made, grown and farmed products.
“Our values are to support good Irish suppliers,” explains Colin Jephson, who operates Ardkeen in partnership with his brothers, Kevin and Gerald. “Especially the small ones. Quality is what we stand for, and we find, in most cases, better quality from smaller producers.”
Ardkeen was originally opened by Colin’s parents in 1967. Over the years, it has evolved from a small grocery and petrol shop to something more specialised and unique.
“We started working with more artisan producers around 20 years ago,” Colin says. “We had to veer from being a more ‘general’ shop to finding our own place in the market. We would have always been buying from local producers, so this was a natural progression for us.”
During the pandemic, like many Irish shops, Ardkeen began nationwide deliveries and discovered that their gift hampers featuring local Irish products were a particular area of growth.
“[Hamper sales] are growing every year,” Colin says. “We started to think about sending them to the United States, but that won’t be happening any time soon. Obviously, though, most of our business is through Ireland and Europe, and that will continue.”
Few of the small producers represented at Ardkeen export to the United States. However, larger Irish agri-food businesses are also represented in the shop, like Flahavans and Kerrygold. Colin says whether they export or not, all producers are likely worried as they anticipate the effects these tariffs could have.
“We kind of have a two-tier economy in Ireland,” he says. “The bigger companies are exporting and have had a positive few years, while the smaller ones have been working away with increasing operating costs. At the moment, we are all a bit concerned about what direction this is going to take. And maybe this time the bigger guys are more worried.”
Ultimately, it will make a tangible difference to local producers if Irish consumers take a stand with them and pledge to buy Irish as much as possible.
“It’s a continuous truth that buying local is better for the local economy, and you get more bang for your buck,” Colin says. “In this instance, we also need to work with our European partners. Everyone will be looking for new markets and will be looking to expand into Europe, in particular, and other EU countries will be trying to expand here as they look around [for alternative markets].”
As a grocer, Colin is particularly concerned about the lack of Irish fruit and vegetables on our supermarket shelves – and the ageing profile of current fruit and vegetable farmers in Ireland, with few successors in sight.
“That’s a catastrophe and it’s been out there for years; we don’t grow enough and we don’t support the growers we do have,” he says. “Bigger markets want produce which is uniform, dependable and cheap – they have no interest in encouraging consumers to buy Irish.
“We consider our business a community of suppliers and customers,” he adds. “We’re the hub; we’re bringing them together, and that’s how it works. Without our customers, we have nothing – but without our hundreds of local suppliers, we have nothing of value.”
• ardkeen.com
Ardkeen has been in operation in Waterford since 1967.
Waterford Festival of Food
Down the road in Dungarvan, chef Eunice Power also believes in the power of community. She has spent decades operating one of Ireland’s top private catering companies (Eunice Power Catering), and in recent years, launched And Chips: a local chipper specialising in sustainably-caught fish and locally-grown Maris Piper potatoes.
She has also taken on the role of CEO for the annual Waterford Festival of Food, which is set to take place from 25-27 April.
While promoting great food, this festival aims to act as a bridge: connecting locals with both their own producers and the food professionals making waves in the rest of the country. In everything they do, community is at the centre of things.
“The two things we always keep in our vision are the importance of the people who live here – who work here, and depend on the food industry for their business – and on the other side of that, the community that surrounds them,” she explains. “We are constantly looking at how we can better connect the two and be more accessible to everyone.”
The 2025 programme takes in a variety of events, dinners and gatherings; offering something for the entire community, for visitors and for all ages. The festival also offers chefs and producers a chance to gather and enjoy time away from their kitchens and offices – community is good for them, too.
You can really see how people are becoming malnourished – and now they’re going to put a surcharge on that? These tariffs will affect all of us, but it will affect the American people the most
Highlights of the weekend will likely include their ‘Elegance at the castle: An Ashford Castle Gourmet Evening at Lismore Castle’ event, led by Ashford Castle executive chef Liam Finnegan (Friday, 25 April); the ‘Meet the makers: grain, grape and apple tour’, which will take visitors on a tour of the county’s wine, beer and cider producers (Saturday 26 April); and, on Sunday, Sarah Browne of Oysome will lead an Irish oyster masterclass aboard a tall ship called the Klevia.
The ultimate theme, however, is around the food producers of the region. Following their successful 2024 gallery of local producers by photographer Jolene Cronin, the festival is launching ‘Bitesize: Stories Behind the Bite’, which will be led by Jane Gormley of Craicly Stories and will focus on the story behind the producers.
“A total of 27 local producers are being featured,” Eunice says. “It’s a brief snapshot of 250 words, but it captures a moment in time. The reason we do this is really basic: so people can see that these are the people you support when you buy local.”
Eunice is worried about the effects the tariffs will have here in Ireland, but she is equally concerned about American consumers. It was recently estimated that a pound of Kerrygold butter could exceed $11 in the States, if tariffs are in place.
“We have access to great food here,” she says. “We’re not self-sufficient, but we do quite well. In America, there are already food deserts. I was there recently and visited the hometown of Walmart. I went [to the flagship store] thinking, ‘This is going to be fab’, but it was just aisles of sugary cereals and processed snacks.
“When you got to the greengrocer section, a small bag of apples was $10 and a head of lettuce was $5. You can really see how people are becoming malnourished – and now they’re going to put a surcharge on that? These tariffs will affect all of us, but it will affect the American people the most.”
• waterfordfestivaloffood.com
The United States is Ireland’s largest trade partner; export tariffs will have a serious affect on our agri-food industry.In 2024, Irish food and drink exports reached a record €17 billion in value.A 20% tariff is set to be imposed on Irish exports into the United States after the 90-day pause.The European Union has not yet decided on its response to these imposed tariffs, though retaliatory tariffs are likely. Read more
‘Disaster relief fund’ needed to keep businesses af loat
Fast to feast: a growing halal market for Irish agri-food
Ireland’s agri-food sector has been sitting in a haze of uncertainty since the 2 April announcement (and subsequent announcement of a 90-day pause) of 20% tariffs on United States-bound exports from Ireland and all European Union (EU) member states.
The European Commission is currently in negotiation mode as it attempts to solve matters diplomatically, but if these tariffs go ahead, we can expect that there will be retaliatory tariffs on American imports like cereals, clothes, meat and wine.
Only time will tell how things play out, but we have reason to be worried: Ireland is a food-producing nation, largely focused on export. Earlier this year, Bord Bia announced that Irish food and drink exports reached a record €17bn in value.
The new tariffs will have a serious impact on Irish producers who export to the United States, but it will likely also have a knock-on economic effect on all who produce food and drink.
According to the CSO, in 2023 the United States was our largest export partner with exports totalling €54bn. Two -thirds of this value came from medical, pharmaceutical and chemical products.
Within six weeks, the Government aims to have a trade diversification plan in place to help Irish businesses. But what can we do in the meantime?
Can Irish consumers help our agri-food producers overcome these challenges – or at least find a meaningful way to show our support?
On 4 March, the United States imposed similar tariffs (25%) on Canadian exports. The Canadian government’s response was quick and decisive, but it was the collective actions of Canadian consumers which were most inspiring.
A “Buy Canadian” campaign kicked off throughout the country. Provincial liquor stores stopped bringing in American liquors. Shoppers actively sought out Canadian alternatives to American products.
Through government-imposed counter-tariffs on American goods, combined with the “Buy Canadian” campaign, the choice for consumers to support Canadian businesses was simplified. Counter-tariffs increase the price of American goods in Canadian shops, making them less desirable than the more-reasonably priced (and, now, well-labelled) Canadian products.
In Ireland, we already have a recognisable symbol to show if food has been produced here – the Bord Bia Quality Assurance mark. However, as a semi-state agency within the EU, Bord Bia cannot use their quality assurance scheme to specifically say “Buy Irish”, as this is against EU state aid rules.
This doesn’t mean, though, that Irish consumers can’t rise up to show their support to our agri-food industry. We may not have the buying power of 300 million Americans, but we can make informed choices during our weekly shop to better ensure we “Buy Irish”.
Ardkeen Quality Food Store, Waterford
The Jephson family in Waterford has been publicly supporting “local” for decades. They operate Ardkeen Quality Food Store, which is a supermarket with a difference. They base their food and grocery offering around locally-made, grown and farmed products.
“Our values are to support good Irish suppliers,” explains Colin Jephson, who operates Ardkeen in partnership with his brothers, Kevin and Gerald. “Especially the small ones. Quality is what we stand for, and we find, in most cases, better quality from smaller producers.”
Ardkeen was originally opened by Colin’s parents in 1967. Over the years, it has evolved from a small grocery and petrol shop to something more specialised and unique.
“We started working with more artisan producers around 20 years ago,” Colin says. “We had to veer from being a more ‘general’ shop to finding our own place in the market. We would have always been buying from local producers, so this was a natural progression for us.”
During the pandemic, like many Irish shops, Ardkeen began nationwide deliveries and discovered that their gift hampers featuring local Irish products were a particular area of growth.
“[Hamper sales] are growing every year,” Colin says. “We started to think about sending them to the United States, but that won’t be happening any time soon. Obviously, though, most of our business is through Ireland and Europe, and that will continue.”
Few of the small producers represented at Ardkeen export to the United States. However, larger Irish agri-food businesses are also represented in the shop, like Flahavans and Kerrygold. Colin says whether they export or not, all producers are likely worried as they anticipate the effects these tariffs could have.
“We kind of have a two-tier economy in Ireland,” he says. “The bigger companies are exporting and have had a positive few years, while the smaller ones have been working away with increasing operating costs. At the moment, we are all a bit concerned about what direction this is going to take. And maybe this time the bigger guys are more worried.”
Ultimately, it will make a tangible difference to local producers if Irish consumers take a stand with them and pledge to buy Irish as much as possible.
“It’s a continuous truth that buying local is better for the local economy, and you get more bang for your buck,” Colin says. “In this instance, we also need to work with our European partners. Everyone will be looking for new markets and will be looking to expand into Europe, in particular, and other EU countries will be trying to expand here as they look around [for alternative markets].”
As a grocer, Colin is particularly concerned about the lack of Irish fruit and vegetables on our supermarket shelves – and the ageing profile of current fruit and vegetable farmers in Ireland, with few successors in sight.
“That’s a catastrophe and it’s been out there for years; we don’t grow enough and we don’t support the growers we do have,” he says. “Bigger markets want produce which is uniform, dependable and cheap – they have no interest in encouraging consumers to buy Irish.
“We consider our business a community of suppliers and customers,” he adds. “We’re the hub; we’re bringing them together, and that’s how it works. Without our customers, we have nothing – but without our hundreds of local suppliers, we have nothing of value.”
• ardkeen.com
Ardkeen has been in operation in Waterford since 1967.
Waterford Festival of Food
Down the road in Dungarvan, chef Eunice Power also believes in the power of community. She has spent decades operating one of Ireland’s top private catering companies (Eunice Power Catering), and in recent years, launched And Chips: a local chipper specialising in sustainably-caught fish and locally-grown Maris Piper potatoes.
She has also taken on the role of CEO for the annual Waterford Festival of Food, which is set to take place from 25-27 April.
While promoting great food, this festival aims to act as a bridge: connecting locals with both their own producers and the food professionals making waves in the rest of the country. In everything they do, community is at the centre of things.
“The two things we always keep in our vision are the importance of the people who live here – who work here, and depend on the food industry for their business – and on the other side of that, the community that surrounds them,” she explains. “We are constantly looking at how we can better connect the two and be more accessible to everyone.”
The 2025 programme takes in a variety of events, dinners and gatherings; offering something for the entire community, for visitors and for all ages. The festival also offers chefs and producers a chance to gather and enjoy time away from their kitchens and offices – community is good for them, too.
You can really see how people are becoming malnourished – and now they’re going to put a surcharge on that? These tariffs will affect all of us, but it will affect the American people the most
Highlights of the weekend will likely include their ‘Elegance at the castle: An Ashford Castle Gourmet Evening at Lismore Castle’ event, led by Ashford Castle executive chef Liam Finnegan (Friday, 25 April); the ‘Meet the makers: grain, grape and apple tour’, which will take visitors on a tour of the county’s wine, beer and cider producers (Saturday 26 April); and, on Sunday, Sarah Browne of Oysome will lead an Irish oyster masterclass aboard a tall ship called the Klevia.
The ultimate theme, however, is around the food producers of the region. Following their successful 2024 gallery of local producers by photographer Jolene Cronin, the festival is launching ‘Bitesize: Stories Behind the Bite’, which will be led by Jane Gormley of Craicly Stories and will focus on the story behind the producers.
“A total of 27 local producers are being featured,” Eunice says. “It’s a brief snapshot of 250 words, but it captures a moment in time. The reason we do this is really basic: so people can see that these are the people you support when you buy local.”
Eunice is worried about the effects the tariffs will have here in Ireland, but she is equally concerned about American consumers. It was recently estimated that a pound of Kerrygold butter could exceed $11 in the States, if tariffs are in place.
“We have access to great food here,” she says. “We’re not self-sufficient, but we do quite well. In America, there are already food deserts. I was there recently and visited the hometown of Walmart. I went [to the flagship store] thinking, ‘This is going to be fab’, but it was just aisles of sugary cereals and processed snacks.
“When you got to the greengrocer section, a small bag of apples was $10 and a head of lettuce was $5. You can really see how people are becoming malnourished – and now they’re going to put a surcharge on that? These tariffs will affect all of us, but it will affect the American people the most.”
• waterfordfestivaloffood.com
The United States is Ireland’s largest trade partner; export tariffs will have a serious affect on our agri-food industry.In 2024, Irish food and drink exports reached a record €17 billion in value.A 20% tariff is set to be imposed on Irish exports into the United States after the 90-day pause.The European Union has not yet decided on its response to these imposed tariffs, though retaliatory tariffs are likely. Read more
‘Disaster relief fund’ needed to keep businesses af loat
Fast to feast: a growing halal market for Irish agri-food
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