Incentives for food producers

Emerging food companies are being urged to take advantage of the advanced food science skills of Teagasc and other third-level research hubs to road test and develop their products.

The call for smaller entities to avail of state-supported research is not a new message, but it is one which the authorities are now actively pushing to maximise the benefits they hope the agri-food sector can deliver in the next few critical years for the Irish economy. The reality is that not enough small food producers realise that they are the target of these calls to innovate and develop new products.

A lot of the companies who actually avail of free or near-zero cost research back-up from Teagasc and Ireland’s universities and the institutes of technology get there via an Enterprise Ireland innovation and research voucher. These are not just food companies, of course, but all categories.