Food Futures, a project funded by the Agri-Food Quest Competence Centre, is a whole supply chain partnership between farmers, processors, industry bodies, government and academic partners (Queen’s University and the Agri-Food and Biosciences institute).
The project is currently developing a platform to capture, credit and drive behavioural change to enhance the sustainability of Northern Ireland Agri-Food production recognising that sustainability is a stool which rests on three legs: People, Planet and Profit, which must be considered together.
With the help of 31 Ambassador Farmers the Food Futures tool has been developed to benchmark sustainability, utilising the latest science and technology to the industry on a journey of continual improvement.
The system gives recognition for progress made and provides guidance and support on the next steps in the journey.
The website gives an overview of the project and more information on the metrics used and will provide a portal for farmers taking part in the project to login and view the sustainability dashboard for their farm.
“The Northern Ireland Agri-food sector has the potential to be one of the most sustainable in the world”, said Jason Rankin, general manager of AgriSearch.
“The Food Futures team aim to ensure that this is recognised through a clear and credible system backed by science.”
Food Futures is currently planning a second phase of the project which would roll out the tool out to the whole industry.