Bord Bia will temporarily return to remote audits for the various quality assurance schemes, it has said.
The move is understood to be in response to the escalating Covid-19 case figures.
It was only on November 1 that Bord Bia returned to on-farm audits, after originally introducing remote audits in 2020 shortly after the onset of the pandemic.
Remote audits consist of phonecalls and the online uploading of relevant documents, rather than actual on-farm visits.
Back in October, Bord Bia said that it was planning to eventually use a ‘blended approach’ to audits, which would combine the remote process with a physical farm inspection.
The food promotion board has now confirmed that this blended system will be put in place from February.
This will reduce the duration of any on-site element to an “absolute minimum” a spokesperson said.
The blended audit will see a mixture between the full remote audit and the full on-site audit. It will consist of a pre-audit phone call; a pre-audit documentation upload; and a reduced farm walk, maintaining full social distancing and lasting approximately 30 minutes.
Any interaction between the farmer and the auditor during the farm walk will be socially distanced, and will take place outside with no transfer of documents or other contact, the Bord Bia spokesperson explained.
The aim of the farm walk will be to observe conformance with the standard requirements, relating mainly to facilities, animal husbandry and animal health and welfare.
The blended audit will use the same online portal that was developed for the full remote audit, the spokesperson noted.
Bord Bia confident for 2022 cattle trade
In other Bord Bia-related news, the board’s beef sector manager Mark Zieg has expressed optimism that 2022 will see continued strength in the Irish cattle trade and a strong demand for beef.
In statement to Agriland, he outlined that the firmness in the beef trade has continued with an average R3 steer price in the week ending December 11, 2021, of €4.24/kg.
The Bord Bia beef sector manager outlined that this compares to an R3 steer price of €3.72/kg in the corresponding week last year.
In the 12-month period of 2021, the average R3 steer price in the Republic of Ireland has increased by 52c/kg.