Budget Day - and €105 taken out of Irish Agriculture, what does it mean for farmers and food producers?

Round One of Budget 2012 happened earlier today, with the axe falling on €1.4 billion of public spending by the Irish Government. The main headlines were changes to child benefit, increased registration fees for students and changes to health spending. But across the country many from the farming and food sector anxiously watched Minister Brendan Howlin's budget speech for news on what would happen to farm incomes. Then it was announced that €105 million is to be taken out of the agriculture budget, a move that will affect 50,000 full and part-time farmers. In that respect it could have been a better day. But to be honest it could also have been a hell of a lot worse.

I've outlined the main points of the cuts below. On the positive side (yes there is one), farmers countrywide are relieved to see no change in the suckler cow welfare scheme, which aids those producing beef animals. There's also beef discussion group funding and money for the BVD scheme. The main cut is to the Disadvantaged Area Scheme where €30 million is to be taken out of the system. This will really be felt by the farm families who farm in less productive parts of the country, where in short, it can be very hard to make money. Uplands, wetlands and bog is all too common in Ireland and while it might look poetic, it certainly isn't poetic trying to pull an income out of it.

Also notable is the €6 million being cut from the agri and food bodies such as Teagasc, Bord Bia and BIM which offer invaluable support to farmers, food producers and promote Irish food both here and abroad. In reality a lot of this €6 million saving will occur anyway through employees not being replaced and changes to funding models. But it may still mean a merging of some agri-food bodies which was what had been rumoured.

Summary of the cuts:

Disadvantaged Area Scheme

ƒThis will be implemented through reduction of those entering the scheme via eligibility and

qualifying criteria. The proposed amendments are subject to approval by the

European Commission. Planned saving - €30 million

ERAD, Disease eradication scheme

ƒSavings from anticipated lower disease incidence and operational changes. €10 million

REPs

ƒImplement reduction in expenditure through changes in the payment of transaction costs to scheme participants. The proposed amendments will require Commission approval.

€19 million in savings over 2012

Administrative Budget of the Department of Agriculture

"ƒD/AF&M rigorously reviews every area of expenditure and is committed to further staffing reductions and reductions in costs, including in procurement and shared services."

€12 million in savings

Non Commercial State Sponsored Bodies (NCSSBs)

Total grants-in-aid to five non-commercial State bodies (Teagasc, Bord Bia, BIM, the Marine Institute and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority) amount to some €200 million per annum. "While the emphasis in 2012 will be non-pay expenditure cuts, funding models and overall levels of funding will be examined critically, particularly in the context of the Government’s commitment to streamline the number of State bodies."

The announcement also factors in Miscellaneous Savings of €28 million to bring the total of agriculture cuts to €105 million. Tomorrow will see the announcements on VAT which will greatly affect food producers and as they predict, shrink demand for their goods. It's rumoured that the new VAT rate on bagels, garlic bread etc (the bread that's not bread story) may not go ahead which is great news for small bakers. As always, I'll keep a close watch on announcements tomorrow and keep you all posted. Keep the chins up x

If you're one of the 700,000 Irish people buying a turkey in the next few weeks you might want to read this...

Let's Talk Turkey by Suzanne Campbell

Irish Independent 1st December 2011

Many of us would like to buy an Irish turkey this Christmas and ordering one from your nearest butchers seems a great way to keep money in the local community. But a surprising quarter of the 700,000 turkeys we'll eat this Christmas are likely to be imports from Italy and France with many being sold as Irish birds by local retailers and butchers.

Under current law it's not mandatory to label imported turkey as Italian or French so we may think we're buying a locally reared turkey. Unlike most Irish-grown turkeys sold this Christmas, birds from Italy and France are farmed more cheaply but are routinely sold at around the same price as Irish turkey.

As they are shipped here they are less fresh and could be more likely to cause food-borne illness. So how can you ensure you're getting a fair deal and a Christmas turkey that's healthy, succulent and a meal to remember?

Turkeys from butchers and small retailers

Ask your butcher if the turkey is Irish. Under current labelling law, retailers are not required to show country of origin on the turkey itself but if asked they must tell you where the bird was slaughtered and indicate if it's an import.

"We encourage our members to sell as much Irish product as possible, but it's not for us to tell butchers what to do," says Dave Lang of the Association of Craft Butchers.

"There are imported Christmas turkeys for sale, but I don't think there's subterfuge going on. "Many butchers and small retailers will stock Irish birds but you should ask rather than assume. "If you see a Quality Assured mark on a turkey in an Irish retailer, you know it was grown in Ireland to high production standards," says David Owens from Bord Bia. "However, last year we saw over 160,000 imported turkeys coming into the country and consumers should be aware of that. These turkeys should be cooked immediately and not frozen."

Turkeys from supermarkets

Most Christmas turkeys sold in supermarkets are Irish birds grown by the three large turkey producers in the country. These are white turkeys which mature in about 16 weeks and are reared in large indoor housing without access to the outdoors.

Many of these supermarket turkeys will have a Bord Bia Quality Assured mark which means the farms are inspected for welfare standards, stocking density and the type of feed and medication the turkeys are given.

What's a bronze turkey?

If you want to your turkey to have had a longer life and increase the chances of a tasty tender bird, buying a free-range bronze turkey is increasingly popular. Bronze turkeys are the old-fashioned black coloured bird once common on Irish farms.

As they are slower to grow they should taste more tender than a commercial turkey. The meat is also said to have more flavour as the turkeys forage in grass and have a more varied diet. "There is no such thing as a dry bronze turkey," says Ronan Byrne who is rearing 600 free-range turkeys at his farm in Athenry.

"My birds take almost six months to grow and that's why I compare them to Aberdeen Angus beef. They're tender, juicy and have lots of flavour."

Free-range turkey

If a turkey is labelled 'free- range' it means the turkeys were allowed access to an outdoor area and the farms are inspected to comply with free-range regulations. Because of increasing demand many supermarkets, large retailers and farmers' markets now sell free-range, which may be white or bronze birds.They are more expensive than commercially farmed turkey but Mr Byrne says there's always a certain amount of customers that want quality. "Once people make the change they come back to me year after year."

Organic

Organic turkey is the most expensive of all the options as the turkeys are fed a diet of grains and grasses which have been grown without pesticides. They must also have access to grass and be free-range.

Taste-wise, organic will be very similar to a bronze free- range turkey but more expensive as organic feed drives price significantly upwards. If you choose to buy a premium product such as an organic turkey, check that the packaging or that the producer has an IOFGA (Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association) or Soil Association stamp.

Buying locally

Buying from a local farm is often a cheap way to get a good turkey as it cuts out the middleman.Many farms now sell direct from farm gate and some deliver turkeys to your door. If you want to be sure a turkey is free-range, buy it from a farmer you know or visit the farm. Many farmers encourage customers to see their farms and to collect turkeys once they are ready.

It also makes a lovely outing for children around Christmas time. If you're short on time, many farms now sell online.

Irish Independent

You know you want him... on a plate

You'll hear from me later in the week on what to look for when handing over your hard earned dosh for a Christmas turkey; there are some shocking rip-offs and ropey options out there. But for the moment, here's a list of farms selling direct and small producers of free-range and bronze turkeys this Christmas. Remember, instead of making your usual trawl through the supermarket you can buy turkeys and hams at farm gate, it makes for a lovely trip if you've got kids. And if you're short on time, many farms sell online with delivery. It's good value, cuts out the middleman and I've outlined the options below.

Bronze turkeys are the old fashioned black-coloured bird once common on Irish farms. They take longer to grow - about six months as opposed to the commercial white turkey which matures in a speedy 16 weeks or less. Bronze birds are more tender - I can vouch for this, and generally beat the conventional bird on flavour.

Prices:

The big supermarkets this year will have mass produced white turkeys at about €7 a kilo
Superquinn have an organic bronze at €15.99/kg which is a whopping mark up on the birds below - if you buy them from a farmer they should come in around €9 or €10 a kilo
Tesco, Aldi and Lidl are not yet releasing prices for Christmas turkeys

Free range bronze options:
Ronan Byrne’s farm in Athenry: €9.90/kg; a 12 pound bird will cost about €54 euro http://www.thefriendlyfarmer.blogspot.com/ He's a lovely fella and knows his poultry

David McEvoy in Louth €8.80/kg, order via http://www.fruitandvine.com/ and at Dun Laoghaire and Temple Bar markets

Co. Clare; Phillip Monks, Ballyvaughan www.monksfarm.wordpress.com ph. 086 8735565

Co. Kildare; Gerry McEvoy Sallins, Co.Kildare, about €9/kg http://www.bronzeturkeys.iewicklow/

Co. Louth; McEvoys’ farm Termonfeckin – http://www.termonfeckindelicious.ie/
Co. Fermanagh; http://www.macneanfarm.com/
Co. Offaly; Ger and Paula Lalor, Rhode, http://www.ballybryanturkeys.com/

Co. Roscommon; Brendan Allen http://www.castleminefarm.ie/

Co. Tipperary; TJ Crowe; http://www.crowefarm.ie/
Co. Wicklow; Colin Hadden in Tinahely http://ballyshonogfarm.ie/
Online - James Whelan butchers - will deliver http://www.jameswhelanbutchers.com/

Organic
Organic Bronze turkeys €75 each average weight 12-15 lbs from
Drumeen Farm, Kilkenny and Mary Regan, Wexford available at http://www.organicmeat.ie/

If you're up my direction in Wicklow, you can order local free range turkeys at Michael Keegans new farm shop on the road to Enniskerry Waterfall. He's a lovely fella, a full time farmer and it's great to support a local business if you live in this neck of the woods. He's also supplying hams from Ed Hick and all sorts of other goodies.

For video junkies there's a little video here on Ronan Byrne's website of his 600 strong flock of bronze turkeys making their unique turkey gobble sound and generally out having a great time in the sunny fields. Just don't mention Christmas... www.thefriendlyfarmer.blogspot.com

Happy eating x

Chocolate rabbits, fine food... Say hello to the awards season

There's very few people able to coerce the premier of any country into auctioning a chocolate rabbit but if anyone's up for the job, it's Margaret Jefferes. Margaret is founder of Good Food Ireland - a tourism and food organisation which brings together the best of Ireland's food producers, restaurants, cafes and accomodation. In my work I come across members of Good Food Ireland all the time and it's testament to Margaret that she has gathered those at the top of their game into her organisation. The sublime Merrion Hotel, Cliff House Hotel, Chapter One and food producers like Graham Roberts of Connemara Smokehouse, Glenillen Farm and Cashel Blue cheese are all members of the group. These are people and companies who I've covered in stories because they are doing something different and authentic in food. And when I travel around the country to interview farmers and food producers I always find the Good Food Ireland folk a fantastic, energetic and fun bunch of people. The minute I get out of my car they're there with a warm welcome, an honesty and humour that always makes me really warm to them. Maybe it's because they gain strength from each other in what can be a lonely business - running a food SME in a recession. But whatever the reason, they have huge passion for what they do, and I always end up chatting for hours and more importantly, laughing, a lot.

Earlier this week they held their annual conference and awards in the Shelbourne Hotel Dublin. It was an honour to asked to speak at the conference alongside the likes of Kevin O'Sullivan editor of the Irish Times, Feargal Quinn retail legend, Fred Karlsson Founder of DoneDeal.ie, and Mary Carney winner of MasterChef Ireland. Mary spoke about "Creating Great Taste Memories" and the good and bad memories we all have of Irish food which brought me back to the terrible days of the 1980s microwave lasangne but also my Donegal grandmothers insanely good soda bread. The lunchtime spread of foods from Good Food Ireland was so fantastic it was hard to take in. I think I had about fourteen separate things on my plate at one stage, everything packed with flavour, beautifully cooked and as Irish as it comes. Some of the highlights from the conference talks on the day were from Sile Gorman, Aran McMahon and Peter Ward from Country Choice who all spoke about how difficult it is to make money out of producing or serving good food, but that what keeps them going is the love affair they have with food, and the feedback they get from their customers who come back again and again.

The awards ceremony was later in the evening and it was lovely to see some great Irish businesses like Goatsbridge Trout farm, The Chocolate Garden and Ballyvolane House collect some well deserved silverware. But for me it was a race over to Trinity College for my second appointment of the day - the Bord Bia Food Industry Awards, and yes, I finished the evening pretty well fed. The Bord Bia awards were slightly different as they are aimed at larger food businesses. Huge Irish success stories like Largo crisps won awards alongside Flavahans porridge (a staple in our home), Country Crest, Green Saffron, Jameson Whiskey and a new collaboration between Kerrygold and Cashel Blue which will see the Grubb family's handmade cheese on shelves in the mega marketplace that is the USA. It's fantastic to see this kind of innovation taking place as our big brand leaders like Kerrygold could do a lot to give smaller businesses a leg up in markets where they already have a foothold. And now more then ever, when our food exports are so important in keeping jobs in Ireland is the time to exploit this further. Here's a shaky photo of Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney speaking at the event; bigging up the export performance of Irish food which is set to hit 9 billion euros by the close of the year. Just so you know, the Bord Bia dinner was St. Tola's Cheese, roast Irish pork and a berry crumble to finish. As usual with Bord Bia's events, it was beautifully done and a really lovely evening. For me it was also a chance to catch up on the gossip with other farming and food journalists and we had a lively night with lots of laughs. Particularly pleasing to me was seeing the "journalist writing tomorrows piece on back of napkin" approach is live and well, as a quick scan around the media table revealed. Having no napkin to hand, my own scribbled notes were made on the back of my speech from earlier in the day. We're nothing but enterprising, us lot.

Let them eat cake.

I used to assume garlic bread was a type of actual bread. Apparently not.

In a surprise move by the Irish Revenue Commissioners, the price of baked goods such as bagels, croissants, garlic bread are set to rise by up to 13% in new Government measures which will make them subject to VAT for the first time. This change in status is because Revenue have now decided that bagels, croissants and the like are not sufficiently "bread-like" to be exempt from VAT.

This has come as a shock not only to consumers but to the baking industry, some of whom only found out about the changes from the Revenue Commissioner's website.

Reaction from Irish food producers today isn't positive to say the least. Alongside jokes that the Germans are now writing our budget (bagels.. ) small bakeries are busy claiming that their products are in fact far more bread-like then the average sliced pan which as it stands, will not receive any price hike in terms of the new VAT regime. To be fair, there are many different types of sliced pan and they vary hugely in quality. Last year while checking out one of the UK's biggest food retail outlets - the new ASDA/Walmart in Swindon, I purchased a loaf of bread for 26p. Two weeks later this loaf had the exact same consistency and taste as the day it was purchased. Value for money? Certainly. Will I be buying it for the kids? Don't think so.

The VAT hike on baked goods comes as yet another blow for what small food manufacturers say is continuing Government disregard for their sector. Con Trass, a food producer in Tipperary points out that the apple juice he makes on his farm is already subject to 21% VAT. Putting this kind of pressure on small food businesses can be crippling and as he points out, is also a barrier to growth "With the top rate of VAT on your foods where is the incentive for farmers to diversify?"

While we won't starve as a result of our bakery tastes priced a little higher, what it will cost is jobs in small food companies, over 400 of whom are supplying specialist goods like these products to a market which is already difficult to operate in. And for consumers, it's yet more money travelling from your wallet into the black hole of an economy on the edge of the train wreak that is the euro. But for now, the question I really want to ask Revenue is "What about the blah?"

If your food has fur, don't eat it. New survey shows 46% of us eat food that's past its sell-by date

Today, survey results released by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland show that nearly half of us eat food that has passed its sell by date. No Biggie, you might say - "sell by" and "best before" dates are tools food manufacturers use to force us to throw out lots of the groceries we buy, in order to fill our trolleys with more.

But what these new figures from the FSAI and Teagasc outline is how as consumers we continually rely on our gut instinct (pardon the pun) to judge if food is safe to eat. The 46% who disregard sell by dates said in the survey that they were happy to eat food as long as it "looks and smells okay". The FSAI think the statistic is "worrying" and shows that Irish consumers are still willing to put their health at risk rather than throw something out.

There's a couple of forces at work here. Firstly, advice from all corners is that we should waste less food and shop and eat smartly. In my case this often means taking mushrooms from the back of the fridge that are probably three days past their best, and chopping them into a tagliatelle with some nice artisan pesto. Like the people surveyed, I judge for myself if these mushrooms will land me on the floor with stomach cramps or in fact, taste rather nice. As they are local, organic, and lets face it expensive mushrooms, the pressure to eat them is even greater. I even have a "I'll eat this dish but not give it to the kids" approach if I feel it presents a risk to tiny stomachs but not to mine. Again this decision making process is based not just on murky science but no science whatseover.

Also in this mix is the particularly Irish psychological pull of hating to waste any kind of foodstuff. "My brother fried up rashers that were three weeks out of date and he was fine" type story is central to upholding this belief and reinforces the notion that "use by" and "sell by" dates should only be loosely applied, at best.

The survey of 1000 consumers also reveals a lack of understanding of what "use by", "sell by" and "best before" terms actually mean. 39% of us will not eat food that has passed its best before date even if it looks and smells fine. But this then contributes to unnecessary food wastage by consumers. We should remember that best before dates are meant to provide a guideline. For example, the bacteria plentiful in cheese age and alter it on a continuous basis, changing its structure and to a point, improving its taste. Its up to us to judge when that cheese tastes at its richest, has gone past its best or presents a danger to us.

I'm regularly cavalier about "use by" dates and from these new figures its clear I'm not alone. From my work on food safety, spoilage bacteria is not the worst thing in the spectrum of threats from what we eat. Much more dangerous and prevalent worldwide are new antibiotic resistant ecolis such as E0104 which killed over fifty people in Europe this year. These unfortunately are not created by food being past its best, but carried on foods as a legacy of our food chain - most ecolis come from human or animal waste, and via an abattoir or factory onto the food we eat. They will make us ill but also carry fatal consequences such as HUS - hemolytic uremic syndrome; a really nasty sidekick of 0104 which in the German outbreak affected almost 30% of the victims who ate contaminated food, far more than in previous ecoli outbreaks.

The FSAI are right to warn consumers about use by dates and improve our understanding of them, but I feel there are bigger threats out there with much more long reaching ramifications. In Holland there have already been measures taken by both agriculture and public health authorities tackling intensive farming, antibiotics and ecoli in the food chain. It's something I hope to explore further on television as current awareness of this problem among consumers is very low, or non-existent. As one Irish academic recently told me, antibiotic resistant ecoli in food is a reality that's "boiling away in the background, we don't even know how big the problem is".

More on this topic again; it's a fast moving area and getting more relevant by the month. But for the moment, happy eating, and if it has green furry stuff on it - best throw it out.

Like beer, pubs, cheese, eating, everything? Check out this little video and a celebration of our wonderful Irish farmhouse cheeses and craft beers

Many years ago as a young producer on Ear to the Ground I set up a story on Ardrahan cheese in Cork and came home with rounds of the most gorgeous soft, richly-flavoured Irish farmhouse cheese. It was all fairly new to me at the time, and in fact in I remember sitting round with a bunch of us in the production office, digging in and generally looking wide-eyed at each other saying - wow this is Really Good... How come we didn't know about this before?
That was over ten years ago and particularly in that period, Irish farmhouse cheeses have grown from a small number of producers to over fifty businesses. These range from what I call the big players - Cashel Blue, Gubbeen etc.. who have their product on cheese boards in top restaurants and who've developed export markets to the smaller, newer entries such as Mary Kelly's Moonshine soft cheeses made in Mullingar.

The last ten years or so have also seen the growth of craft beers in Ireland. Long in the stranglehold of the big international breweries, most Irish pubs or restaurants offered little choice in anything local or alternative to drink. Now we've no excuses - with gorgeous beers from Dungarvan Brewing Company, O'Haras, and Eight Degrees Brewing and fourteen other craft brewers getting into off licenses and pubs, we finally have alternatives that are great tasting products. I adore a decent beer and any chance I get, I pick up some of the new Irish offerings. Yes they are more expensive but they taste fantastic, with real bite and flavour.

Last weekend in Ireland saw a countrywide initiative to bring craft beers and farmhouse cheeses closer to consumers who may not be aware of, or buy this kind of food and drink. Bord Bia, the national food organisation here initiated the Farmhouse Cheese and Craft Beer Weekend with over 30 activities that took place in farms, breweries, restaurants, gastropubs, off-licences and markets across the country involving tastings, pairings and demonstrations.

All these beers and cheeses have individual stories behind them and every time I eat an Irish cheese such as Glebe Brethan (a gorgeous Gruyere type cheese) I think of David Tiernan out milking his cows that morning in all kinds of weather and muck and madness. Because that's the reality of farming; it's tough, often disheartening but also rewarding for people like David when you're making a product as good as his at the end of the day. The picture left is of the cheese room at Ardrahan; a small Irish business but one creating crucial employment in rural areas [I particularly love the St. Bridgets cross on the wall; a big feature of my childhood as my parents came from the wetlands around Lough Erne]
And this is what it's all about; small family businesses and the personalities, places and stories behind them. According to John McKenna, eminent food writer here and editor of Bridgestone Guides - "We are dealing with the most bespoke artisan foods in the world here. Craft beers have the ability to take you into the brewer's highest aspiration; that potent wish to make a drink that evokes their work. They are being treated as the wines of Ireland. The farmhouse cheeses convey the good things of Ireland; pure food; fine milk, and content animals, about sharing and hospitality, and the creativity of a determined individual on a small Irish farm, stamping every cheese with the signature of their personality. It is marvellous to see them being enjoyed and appreciated together"

Check out the video below which will give you a really good picture of what's going on in Irish cheese and beer, and for my many foreign readers, its a pretty good account of what the inside of an Irish pub looks like. Though I suspect, many of you guys know that already hahaaa. Happy eating and drinking x
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1QVWkFQKjo