With the aim of bringing the latest news, information and opinions on what is shaping the future of Irish agriculture and food production – particularly the challenges Irish farmers face at local and national level with regards to policies and regulations – agri-food educational body, Agri Aware have launched its consumer-focused campaign ‘Food for Thought’.
To mark the campaign’s launch, Agri Aware brought the highly contentious Mercosur Trade Deal to the attention of the general public, highlighting the impact it will have on Irish farmers by engaging with consumers on Dublin’s Grafton Street in November.
This was followed up with a collaboration with Newstalk who spoke with secondary school students in Wesley College in Ballinteer, Co. Dublin on what their knowledge of the Mercosur Trade Deal was and the importance of being aware of the challenges Irish farmers face in producing food.
This in turn saw a newly developed hub of information go live on the Agri Aware website, that will allow the general public to keep up to date on the latest developments impacting Irish farmers, producers and the agri-food sector.
The campaign will also see engagement with farmers, producers and the agri-food industry at Agri Aware hosted events to bring all involved up to date on the issues facing the sector and the progress of the campaign.
“The importance of knowing where our food comes from and bridging the gap between farmers, producers and the consumer is becoming more important,” Executive Director of Agri Aware, Marcus O’Halloran, stated at the launch of the campaign. “The Food for Thought campaign was launched to bring to light key national and local issues impacting farmers and food production in Ireland and to give a platform in which to communicate these issues to the consumer.
“This campaign is the start of Agri Aware voicing the issues the sector is facing at any given time at a larger scale through a combination of in-person and digital activations.”
LOCAL INITIATIVES
While several projects across the catchment look to turn the balance back to locally grown produce – helping to reduce carbon footprint and providing food security amongst the benefits – such as community allotment initiatives, and the ambitions project being undertaken at Bushy Park in the parish of Kildinan, much work still needs to be done to raise public awareness, and the importance of supporting local growers to help strengthen our food supply.
For more information on Agri Aware’s Food for Thought campaign, visit https://agriaware.ie/food-for-thought-2
