Bord Bia has said that it will not be moving to an exclusively digitally based audit format when a new producer standard is implemented in 2024.

The Irish food board said today (Thursday, January 26), that the new producer standard will follow a consultation phase with the Technical Advisory Committee, a body of industry stakeholders which oversees Bord Bia’s various quality assurance (QA) schemes.

This new standard will go through a pilot phase on farms before a full roll-out.

Bord Bia has moved to dismiss suggestions that this will result in a change of audit format.

“The current audit format will remain. Auditors will visit farms and farmers can show their paper records. There is no move towards an exclusively digitally based audit process,” Bord Bia said in a statement.

It also said: “We undertake a comprehensive consultative process, taking on board all feedback from stakeholders, including farm representatives, before any changes to the Bord Bia audit can be implemented.”

Such a consultation process would also apply to animal welfare monitoring, according to the food board.

“Animal welfare has always been a key part of the Bord Bia farm standards, and maintaining high standards of animal welfare is of great importance to our farmer members.

“Any changes to the requirement of the audit will evolve over time to meet market demands and only after a thorough consultation process,” the Irish food board said.

Separately to the new producer standard, Bord Bia, through the Origin Green programme, and working with Teagasc and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), is developing tools which aim to “support farmers in recording and implementing on-farm sustainability measures”.

This proposed digital sustainability platform is aimed at helping farmers by “building on their existing good work with regards farm sustainability, efficiency and productivity”.

“In capturing and analysing the actions farmers are taking, the platform will demonstrate that Irish agriculture is playing its part in response to climate, biodiversity and water quality.

“This is vital to future-proof our positive reputation for sustainability, and in turn meet the needs of global customers and consumers,” the statement said.

It is understood (though not confirmed by Bord Bia) that one of the possible measures being considered is sustainability plans that farmers would have to develop.