The gathering of food and beverage producers in the backdrop of beautiful gardens makes Bord Bia’s Bloom festival special.

In effect, it’s the front of house exhibition for so many Irish food and agri businesses. The shiny, flowery, and crisp exterior of Bloom camouflages the principle of hard work and graft that these people unquestionably deliver in the background.

These food and drink exhibitors are investors, partners, shareholders, collaborators, innovators, and supporters who don’t get half enough credit for what they do for the Irish food industry.

Think of the Dunnes from Killowen, Keelings, the Brady family, cheesemakers and The Premium Butcher.

All Irish businesses using the best of produce produced primarily on Irish family farms to the ultimate in food security and safety.

All trying to carve out a niche to turn rich, nutritious Irish food into a profitable business that can grow and develop, and along the way distribute wealth to so many.

I’m certain all consumers still don’t understand or are indifferent to what makes Irish food so special. Consumers often don’t realise when they see a cut of Uruguayan beef in a retail store in Northern Ireland (see p30) what a difference in standards producing beef in Ireland versus Uruguay.

Beef farmers on this island have to contend with actual newly established production limits and standards, unlike all our Uruguayan farmers.

Our CAP story last week was about the shift in EU support from farms in the east to farms in the west of Ireland.

Of course within counties in the west, there are those farmers that had higher support now getting a lot less, but the trend is clear.

Signal

What is the signal to the farmer? One signal is loud and clear – “we don’t care if you don’t put the ewes in lamb or the cows in calf, you will get the same support anyway.” Furthermore, look at any of the non market incentive schemes such as Organics, ACRES etc, all incentivise farmers to produce less food.

Following publication of payments last week by the Department of Agriculture, this is our first real glimpse at the actual shift in money from east to west due to the European Union’s principle of flattening out EU support payments.

Back to food. Those in the food business move to different music. They are driven by a “how do I grow and add value” tune – it’s what gets them out of bed – to be better, grow bigger, continue to return for their dedicated employees and customers.

Farmers, like the Bloom ambassadors, are innovators also. They need the “growth and development drug” to keep them going. If that is not forthcoming and instead replaced with regulation and downsizing, the inevitable happens. You lose a generation of food producers.

In its global role, Bord Bia must watch global food trends. For example, what will be the impact on food consumption by those using weight loss drugs in the US? There were theories that 1% to 2% of US adults could be using these weight loss drugs by 2030.

Currently the estimate is about 10% to 12% of US adults are taking the drugs, that’s about 30 million people. The suggestion by some experts is that when these drugs move from injection to tablet form these usage figures will skyrocket.

People taking weight loss drugs are eating a lot differently. In a normal balanced diet, the advice is 15% of calories should come from protein, however, that rises to 40% for those on weight loss drugs.

That’s a phenomenal shift and why you see protein specifically called out on packaging more often.

Irish farmers use animals to convert the human inedible protein – grass – into environmentally sustainable meat and milk protein.

The ministers that thankfully dedicated time and Department resources to Bloom last weekend need to realise the impact of the change in CAP support for active farmers. If not, we risk losing a generation of future food producers. We need more stimulation of the natural “can do, growth drug” for farmers and less of the regulation and downsizing.