Bord Bia in the process of developing new 5-year meat marketing strategy

Bord Bia is currently in the process of developing a revised and updated marketing strategy for the meat industry.

Progress on the project was outlined by Bord Bia’s Mike Neary at the organisation’s Meat Marketing Seminar, which took place today.

He outlined a number of new and existing challenges facing the meat industry, including: Brexit; access to markets; trade deals; changing consumer trends, including health agenda and perceptions around meat; environmental concerns; animal welfare concerns; and Food Wise 2025 targets.

In the context of these challenges, Bord Bia considers it timely to develop a new strategy – across all species – Neary explained.

There will be two main objectives really; to provide strategic guidance to the meat industry over the period of the strategy and to ensure the support model from Bord Bia delivers its services effectively in the context of this strategy.

Neary detailed that the strategy will cover a 5-year period and that it will cover all species – beef, lamb, pigmeat and poultry.

A Bord Bia project team has been established, but stakeholder engagement will play a key role in the development of this strategy, he added.

“We have already started the process by setting up a steering group, including members of Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“We will engage with other people as we work throughout the process. There will also be a number of individual meetings with key players on a one-to-one basis, because we need to gather as much information as possible in order to paint a picture of what we need to be looking at going forward,” Neary said.

The role of the industry stakeholder group includes:

To provide guidance to the project team throughout the strategy development process on both outcomes and industry engagement;
To sense check the robustness of the marketing strategy throughout the strategy development process;
To provide a review of the insights and potential strategic options developed as part of the strategy process.

Meanwhile, the process for developing the strategy will include: defining the scope of the strategy; data gathering; stakeholder interviews; situational analysis; strategy definition; and presenting the vision and strategy.

It is hoped that a meat marketing strategy for beef and lamb – with a clear strategic direction for the future – will be delivered in April, while the corresponding strategy for pigmeat and poultry will be delivered in June.