Bord Bia has announced details for its ‘Navigating Change’ programme of supports for the food, drink and horticulture sectors in response to Covid-19.
The supports coincide with a report, released yesterday, Monday, April 13, which details the extent of the economic shock the outbreak of the virus is having. The report is informed by Bord Bia’s markets and sectors teams and its global network.
Bord Bia has also developed a a ‘Navigating Change’ hub for its website, which contains information relating to grants, market insights, business reports, expert webinars (online seminars) and podcasts.
“The Navigating Change supports are highly tailored to tackle the specific impacts the Covid-19 crisis is having on the Irish food, drink and horticulture industry,” said Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia.
“A core dynamic has emerged whereby food and drink companies are seeing a dramatic reduction in demand from food service customers, countered by spiking demand in retail for different products,” McCarthy added.
She continued: “At the same time, factory floor constraints, supply chain challenges and varying international market dynamics all have the potential to cause significant disruption.
Covid-19 is an unprecedented challenge for our industry; the scale and enormity of the challenges we face are changing rapidly and so too must our supports.
Bord Bia’s response to the current market conditions is built around three “key focus areas”.
Understanding trends
The first of these is understanding the ongoing effect of Covid-19 on global markets. This will be done through: the Bord Bia Thinking House, which charts consumer insights; the Bord Bia markets team, which provides global perspectives on international trade and issues like global supply chain challenges; and the Bord Bia sectors team, which provides sectoral intelligence to manufacturers.
Also, a market report will be published bi-weekly detailing supply and demand trends in the world-wide supply chain.
Client support
The second focus area for Bord Bia is client support. This will be implemented through a number of measures, including: the €1 million marketing grant programme (for which the deadline for applications is this Thursday, April 16); training and mentoring programmes, such as supply chain mentoring; training on ‘lead generation’ in a changed landscape; and a ‘Think Digital’ training programme.
Bord Bia has also made changes to the Origin Green and Quality Assurance audit procedures during the outbreak of Covid-19, and will engage with retailers on the Irish market to share supplier challenges and identify new opportunities.
Future-proofing
The third focus area is future proofing, which includes planning for a post-Covid-19 future. Bord Bia has said that it will provide specific supports throughout the period so that clients can “adapt to new market conditions, recover and reset”.
This will also involve tracking changing consumer tends and identifying new types of consumer behaviour that are likely to emerge as time goes on, and the behaviours that are likely to “stick” post Covid-19.
Specifically, how people cook and socialise will be closely looked at. More information on tracking these behaviours can be found here.
The full details of Bord Bia’s Covid-19 response programme can be seen here.