Bord Bia is currently inviting tenders for the provision of an three-year promotional campaign in the European Union for organic Irish beef and lamb.
The 36-month contract for advertising and marketing services is expected to cost almost €1.6 million, excluding VAT.
The deadline for submission of tenders falls at on April 4, 2024.
In December, the EU Commission allocated €2.2 million towards an organic promotion campaign to be led by Bord Bia.
The Irish food board provided an additional €500,000 in funding resulting in a record spend of €2.7 million on marketing organic product in the next three years.
The objectives of the programme are to increase awareness of the positive environmental, sustainability and animal welfare attributes of pasture fed organic beef and sheep meat.
Bord Bia chief executive, Jim O’Toole, previously said that Bord Bia will “intesify” support for the organic sector by focusing on European markets, which have been identified as having the highest growth potential for organic beef and lamb exports.
Bord Bia
In January, the Bord Bia Meat Marketing Seminar 2024 heard that production of beef from the organic farming sector in Ireland is set to quadruple by 2030, while production of organic lamb is set to increase six times over in the same period.
If those forecasts prove to be accurate, organic beef production will amount to about 15,000t by the end of the decade, while organic lamb production will be about 2,500t.
By 2030, 75% to 80% of Irish organic production will be exported, the seminar heard.
There are currently some 5,000 farmers farming organically or in conversion to organics in Ireland following the latest intake under the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
5% of Ireland’s agricultural land is currently under organic farming, meaning the country is half-way to its Climate Action Plan target of having 10% of the country under organic farming by 2030.