The National Dairy Council (NDC) has today (Thursday, May 25) launched a new nationwide marketing campaign ‘The Grassroots Movement’, starting with widespread Dublin-focused posters and print work.

The Grassroots Movement builds on the NDC’s ‘From the Ground Up’ platform, with “harder-hitting” messaging to combat increasingly negative commentary around the environmental sustainability of Irish dairy production.

According to the NDC, the campaign aims to remind people of Ireland’s agricultural heritage and seeks to build pride in Irish dairy production practices and the 17,500 Irish dairy farmers on the ground.

The first out-of-home executions feature in a takeover of the Luas Green Line and focuses on the actions that Irish dairy farmers are taking to reduce their environmental impact and the natural advantages that Ireland has when it comes to dairy production.

As part of the new campaign launch, the NDC will also have a show garden at this year’s Bord Bia Bloom in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

The NDC said: “The garden pays homage to the Irish climate, emphasising its crucial role our in the quality and heritage of our farming businesses, while also recognising farmers’ responsibility to protect our natural resources and minimise environmental impact.”

NDC ‘grassroots movement’

“For this campaign, we really wanted to show how Ireland’s dairy farmers and nature are partnering on an environmental improvement plan,” Jeanne Spillane, marketing manager with the NDC explained.

“We see this as a movement – The Grassroots Movement – mobilising all of Ireland’s farmers to come together for a greater cause in lowering Ireland’s emissions and protecting Ireland’s precious biodiversity.”

According to the NDC, scientists focusing on grassland research have shown that introducing white clover into dairy pastures can reduce the need for chemical fertilisers by as much as 40%.

It added that the dairy industry is ‘nurturing nature’ by care-taking field borders, hedgerows and trees, Irish farmers can encourage biodiversity and increase their land’s ability to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2).

The NDC’s goal for ‘The Grassroots Movement’ campaign is to position Irish dairy farmers and the Irish dairy sector as committed to addressing the common climate challenge.