Matrix - Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel

Agri Food Horizon Panel

AGRI FOOD HORIZON PANEL

The production and processing of food plays a vital role in our economy. The sector employs 12% of the private sector workforce. generates £2.4 billion in sales per annum and is responsible for 2.2% of the region’s GVA,. It is a major contributor to Northern Ireland’s balance of trade as it is a net exporter of finished meat products and milk. This is further supported by the contribution of distribution, packaging and retail to the regional economy. In fact, while the sector employs 19,000 processing jobs with 32,000 farming jobs, ancillary services employ in the region of some 64,000 people across Northern Ireland.

Multifaceted as it is in both food and non-food processing and production, it is hardly surprising therefore that Northern Ireland is proud of its Agrifood heritage. The primary agricultural sector has a strong legacy of fine crop and animal rearing and an emphasis on great quality and resilience. The management of disease has always been of foremost importance and the sector understands and takes very seriously its important contribution to the health and well-being of Northern Irish society in general.

My panel colleagues and I will build on the findings of the Food Strategy Implementation Partnership’s 2006 foresight report “Vision 20|20”. This report identified the range and scale of the challenges faced by the sector in Northern Ireland as it seeks to adapt to a globalised and rapidly changing world. But within the many challenges we face, there are also many exciting and invigorating opportunities. We will set out to identify the role that Northern Ireland can secure for itself as a specialist player with unique strategic and niche strengths in the global agrifood market. We will bring forward recommendations which are aimed at ensuring that the future of the agrifood sector continues to draw value from its considerable legacy, but with a firm focus on the medium to long term future with its evolution in and contribution to the knowledge economy.