Professor Gerry Boyle:

I am not fully involved in this area but I am aware that companies are actively engaged in securing their UK markets and in entrenching customer loyalty therein. As members will be aware, a number of companies are building and expanding facilities in the UK. We are interested in the potential that lies in Asian markets, particularly south east Asia. This will require innovation. The example I always give is the outlook for cheddar. We are hugely dependent on the UK market in this regard in that 70% of our cheddar exports are to the UK. The Irish and the British like cheddar but the continentals do not. While other cheeses can be produced on a cheddar platform, we are working with a number of companies to identify a cheese that could be built off a cheddar platform which would be of interest to the Chinese consumer. That is a long haul. Hopefully, we will have a sufficiently long transition period to enable us to bring forward these new products.

The farmer is in a more difficult position in that he or she cannot relocate the farm to the UK. Insofar as we can be of assistance, we are advising farmers to promote, develop and implement efficiency on their farms.