MONITOR:What does Ireland have in common with New Zealand? That country may be a good bit bigger than ours, and the weather is better, but from a food perspective, the answer lies in its small food business sector.
Where we have 800 small food businesses, they have 2,000. Look at the number of artisans and speciality food producers in Ireland and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s overcrowded. Cheeses we have by the dozen, and jam makers aplenty, so where is the room for growth? Or rather, how come in New Zealand they can have so many more small food businesses than us? €3 billion worth to be precise – and that is a lot of jobs and livelihoods.
Recent research by Bord Bia has unearthed a complex matrix of possible reasons. The country has a reputation for bold taste, quality and innovation. Are we too focused on the idea of artisan; niche products for occasional indulgence and foods that are somehow deemed “special”?
Products high on the New Zealand list are the likes of traditional pastries, honey (manuka rather than heather), confectionery, avocado oils, luxury ice creams, cheeses, organic soups and non-alcoholic beverages.
What is really intriguing when looking at New Zealand is the importance of the sector and the joined-up thinking that goes with it. Government departments work together, agencies co-operate and share information in order to achieve innovation and development, and New Zealanders are not just proud of their country’s foods, they buy them regularly.
Like Ireland, New Zealand is crucially dependent on exports and in the past 17 years has trebled its food and beverage exports to more than €11 billion. How has it done this? In 2004, the country established a food and beverage task force designed to harness the combined resources of industry, government, science and education specifically to enhance New Zealand’s role in the international food industry.
The government’s response was to focus on key themes of collaboration, protecting core capability and transformation through the development of new products and markets. The recent publication here of Food Harvest 2020: A Vision for Irish Agri-food and Fisheries is to be welcomed as an indication of more focused inter-agency activity.
Co-opetition is a new word to me, but one that is coming to prominence in the food world as small companies combine in clusters, working together to pitch new products to retailers, even where they might be in competition with each other.
Clusters also have the knock-on effect of helping to build an indigenous food culture. Small companies struggle to establish critical mass, whereas working together they start to be noticed. Look at our cheese producers, who for years have cooperated and combined to help and encourage each other. From farm to plate is something we need a great deal more of, and that will only happen through co-operating to achieve a shared vision.
