Bord Bia to establish new farmer forum

Farmer Forum will comprise 100 farmers, growers and producers, from a range of ages, regions and enterprises

The forum hopes to foster shared understanding between Bord Bia and its members by discussing the issues and topics impacting farmers and the wider Irish agri-food sector.

A new farmer forum has been announced by Bord Bia — the new platform aims to enhance two-way engagement with farmers, growers and producers.

The forum hopes to foster shared understanding between Bord Bia and its members by discussing the issues and topics impacting farmers and the wider Irish agri-food sector.

Forum discussions will focus on areas central to Bord Bia’s work, including quality assurance and origin green, the audit experience, customer requirements, promotional activity, and consumption trends. Through this two-way feedback, farmers will also help guide the development of Bord Bia’s audit supports and services.

The forum will comprise 100 farmers, growers and producers who will meet a minimum of three times a year. They will be supported by a smaller committee made up of forum members and nominees from farm organisations who will consolidate feedback and agree on actions arising from each session.

The forum hopes to represent across all key enterprises, regions and counties and contain a wide diversity of farmers types, including scale, age, gender, full-time and part-time farmers.

Bord Bia chief executive Jim O’Toole said: “Bord Bia is committed to increasing our engagement with farmers to allow for greater farmer participation in its decision-making.

"The new Farmer Forum will be open to all quality assured members, providing a space for open dialogue, fresh insights, and constructive feedback to inform Bord Bia’s work and support Irish farmers and the wider sector. We will begin the formation of the forum in the coming weeks.” 

An open call will be issued for farmers, growers, and producers to join the Farmer Forum. Applicants must provide some brief background information on themselves and their farm enterprise, which will be treated confidentially and used to ensure the forum reflects a broad range of enterprise types, regions, and perspectives.

All forum members must be active farmers or primary producer businesses (full-time or part-time) and current members of Bord Bia quality assurance schemes.

Further details on the application process and membership will be announced in due course.