Prioritising R&D: a key driver for growth
Seamus Kennedy looks at the importance of research and development in meeting the ambitious growth targets for Northern Ireland’s agri food industry.
The commercial opportunities presented by the need to increase food production for a rapidly expanding, and increasingly affluent, world population may seem like a mirage for a dairy industry that is currently feeling the stress of global price volatility.
While individual regions or countries cannot control the volatility associated with climate change, currency fluctuations and energy prices, Northern Ireland can better position itself to mitigate the effects of market forces by increasing efficiency and competitiveness at all levels of the supply chain.
This will require shifting more of its production from the commodity to the added value category, and building market segments for value added products, underpinned by the message of safe wholesome food produced in a pristine, green environment on the western seaboard of Europe.
Increasing efficiency means applying all currently available techniques to reduce the costs of production, processing and distribution as well as increased investment in R&D and innovation. This is essential for the industry to stay ahead of the international competition; we only have to look to Scotland or the Republic of Ireland to see the economic impact of strategic, targeted investment in research and innovation.
The potential economic benefits of maximising the value of our greatest natural resource – grass – are substantial. At producer level, effective techniques for maximising production from pasture are well known but not universally applied. The wide differential in grass production per hectare between the most efficient and the least efficient grassland farmers must be eliminated so that land is managed to produce close to its theoretical maximum production level. The current gradual reduction in subsidies means that livestock farmers must follow the lead of the poultry and pig sectors which have driven competitiveness through a relentless focus on efficiency – with impressive results.
Targeted research and innovation, together with investment in entrepreneurship and skills has a crucial role to play in supporting the local agri-food industry to achieve the expansion targets set out in the Agri-Food Strategy Board’s ‘Going for Growth’ report. Indeed, the link between investment in research and development and economic benefit are well established. For example, an average 47 per cent rate of return on investment in seven areas of agricultural research, conducted by Teagasc in the Republic of Ireland, has been demonstrated (Boyle et al., 2002) and an AgriSearch review (2006) has demonstrated an impressive rate of return on investment across a range of dairy research projects.
As government’s capacity to fund R&D is likely to continue to decrease, it is essential that the potential of public-private partnerships is maximised. The recently launched Invest Northern Ireland-private sector Agri-Food Quest
Competence Centre is an excellent example of such an initiative.
Preservation of Northern Ireland’s enviable reputation for production of safe wholesome food must be preserved. The melamine problem in China, dioxin feed contamination issue in Belgium and ‘false alarm’ relating to botulism in New Zealand; dairy products illustrate the potential major economic damage that can result from single food chain incidents. The local industry and government must ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent or provide early warning of such threats. This will require continued investment in laboratory infrastructure and scientific skills to ensure the maintenance of effective surveillance and local emergency response capability.
Expansion of food production and environmental sustainability must go hand in hand. Research by AFBI has shown that Northern Ireland is one of the most efficient regions for meat and milk production in terms of greenhouse gas emission intensity. However, the recent announcement that, globally, 2015 has been the warmest year on record will, undoubtedly, increase pressure on the industry to reduce GHG emissions.
Fortunately, livestock production efficiency is strongly correlated with reduced GHG emissions. Therefore, current initiatives by Animal Health and Welfare Northern Ireland to eradicate several important production diseases of cattle and by the Agri-Food Strategy Board to develop animal genomics databases are vitally important to reducing GHG emissions as well as to improving production efficiency.
So while we cannot do much to influence price volatility, we can invest strategically in R&D and innovation at all levels of the supply chain to better position the Northern Ireland industry to obtain a market premium for safe wholesome food produced under environmentally sustainable conditions.
Seamus Kennedy is Chief Executive of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI).
