Ms Tara McCarthy:

Senator Paul Daly asked about the market prioritisation study and the extension of markets. On new and current markets, our approach is to invest in market insight initiatives to understand the dynamics of a particular market. In some of our mature markets there is a level of sophistication in our understanding which shapes the promotions we undertake in them. In some of our newer markets there is much more exploratory research. Very often those involved in them do not know where Ireland is and we are looking to understand how best we can make a pitch for Ireland to them.

A clear example of that is when we were looking at the Chinese market and trying to understand whether China respected Ireland and what assets Ireland had that we could communicate to the Chinese consumer. We were looking to position in that market because we do not have the funding of a branding company to conduct huge branding campaigns. We need to use our assets as much as possible and to leverage Ireland's values as much as we can. We have a thinking house facility, which is an insight centre that we have invested in over the past year and half, particularly in our office in Dublin. We have researchers in that facility whom we send overseas. They went to China and spent time with Chinese consumers in their homes, speaking to them about what is important to them, and, in particular, about the dairy products they consume and what makes them choose one product over another. Their awareness of Ireland at the time was low but they linked Ireland to Europe and European regulation and standards were important to them. We then researched in a number of different cities to explore in-depth the language that should be used when speaking about Ireland, the respect they would have for tradition versus technology and making sure that we were understood within that market as we tried to communicate to those consumers the benefits of a sustainable food production and the traceability systems we have in a simple way. We found with Chinese consumers, which is different from European consumers, that they wanted us to demonstrate the merging of technology and tradition.

With regard to the images we used, they were not interested in seeing Irish rain, for example, because in China pollution is very often associated with rain and, therefore, why would rain be connected to food? They were impressed with images showing the clarity of rivers, etc., that we could share with them. They wanted the farmers that we were illustrating to them not to be the traditional farmer, which we have often used in imagery. They wanted to see a young farmer with an iPad beside a modern tractor. Again, one is talking about an industry that has tradition and respects the farming culture but uses technology well so that the consumers can trust the technology. It is about the merging of modernity and tradition and how we can position that to show what Ireland does best. They could respect and understand that. The approach we took there, compared to the approach we take in the German or UK market, which we know much better, was much different. We can go straight to product category in Germany given the respect consumers have for Irish traditions and their knowledge of Ireland whereas in newer markets, we first have to ground where Ireland is and then introduce the systems the country has before getting into marketing the product.

With regard to quality assurance and the move towards organic farming, Origin Green welcomes organic products within it. It is not an either-or of a journey. Organic producers are members of Origin Green and we hope that will add to their proof points or credentials. There are further opportunities for organic products in the market, particularly for organic dairy products. There is huge demand in eastern markets for organic infant formula, for example, and many organic dairy products. It might also explain the backdrop to us looking at grass because sometimes natural is a short cut to organic. We are looking for consumers to understand that natural equals grass fed whereas organic adds to that and attracts a higher premium. What we are trying to understand in our research all the time is how to position Ireland to best fulfil its commercial potential. There are further opportunities for Ireland to increase organic production and there are markets for organic products but the pricing needed to make organic production profitable is not as obvious as people sometimes assume. For example, many continental retailers discount organic products in the same way they discount mainstream products. It is not the "Eureka" that it is positioned as but it is definitely a space that has huge opportunities. Ireland competes successfully in markets for organic salmon and most of the salmon we export is organic. That is one of the main categories we operate in on an export platform and there are not that many other categories that we export organic in on any scale.

Senator Lombard asked about our strategy and the journey we are on. We have two major projects under way. The first project is looking at the next five years of Origin Green. Over the past five years, there has been a sustainability agenda. If we conversed five years ago, the Citizens' Assembly would not have been in operation and would not have been as eloquent in speaking to the challenges around sustainability in comparison to today. The market has significantly changed, as have the expectations of both the consumer and the producer. We logically expect it to change even further over the next five years. We are conducting significant research in our main markets and in new markets to understand where the sustainability agenda is going. We want to bring that information home in order that we can build our sustainability credentials and build Origin Green to ensure it is ready for the next five years of its existence. While that research will feed into our strategy work, we are engaging widely with our stakeholders in this work, particularly Irish companies as well as acknowledging the politics that surrounds Bord Bia ranging from the producer organisations to the EPA or the Department, as they have a perspective on the future of Irish agriculture, and we want to ensure that we find out what is meaningful to them. It will be very much informed by the market drivers and we will have detailed research looking at the key forces of change from a consumer and a market perspective. A coalition of those forces will decide our new strategy. We have every expectation that sustainability will be at the heart of that. We had a small business event earlier and sustainability was highlighted in every market force that we described at it. We have no doubt that sustainability will be a major underpinning of our future strategy.