Two key elements to the future development of a proposed ‘food valley’ for North Cork took place last week. The signing of a memorandum of agreement between Teagasc and Science Foundation Ireland was one. The agreement sets out both agencies’ commitment to jointly fund research grants for scientists from the agriculture and food disciplines, as well as from other scientific and engineering disciplines that will see an investment of €4M in research and development.

The second was the announcement by Minister of State, Sean Sherlock of Government funding of €36M for research at the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre in Cork, designating it as a national centre for food and medicine research excellence. The APC includes Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Cork Institute of Technology and University College Cork.

A further investment of €14M is to come from industry. This will allow 109 researchers to be employed at the centre over the next six years. The centre’s work focuses on the microbes that live in the human stomach, which it is envisaged can be used to better understand the immune system.

RESEARCH IS KEY

The APC was one of seven hubs identified earlier this year by Science Foundation Ireland for financial support as part of the largest ever State and industry co-founded research investment of €300M. Announcing the funding, Minister Sherlock said “The importance of continued investment in research cannot be underestimated, both in terms of job creation and its overall impact on society. A central part of the Government’s action plan for jobs is to ensure that research is better targeted at turning the good ideas of our top-class researchers into good products and high quality jobs.

The removal of milk quotas by the EC in 2015 is seen as key to the development of the proposed ‘food valley’, as it will allow Ireland to significantly increase productivity. Speaking to The Avondhu this week Minister Sherlock said “The key to ensuring that we reap the maximum yield from this increased productivity will be through expansion of our dairy product range, particularly in the functional foods market. This can only be accomplished through research and development, and it is my firm assertion that Teagasc Moorepark is already leading the way in this sector.”

Saying that the ‘food valley’ would be based in North Cork, he explained that it would be developed in conjunction with Cork’s educational institutes and many of the multinational companies who are already based in Cork.

“I have great optimism that this can be achieved and will lead to significant high end industrial jobs for this region,” the Minister said.

His optimism is shared by Professor Paul Ross, Head of Biotechnology at Teagasc, Moorepark, who said “Why not make this area the same as pharmaceuticals in Cork harbour with the food industry? We’re only 30 minutes up the road and we are right in the middle of the Golden Vale. It’s a really good story for Cork.”