Our Progress - April 2026

A stronger foundation: website & channels now live 

We have launched the new Our Food Roots website alongside refreshed LinkedIn and Instagram channels. This marks Phase 1 of our digital presence, creating a clearer, more consistent platform to communicate with both the public and the sector. It will continue to evolve as new content, research and tools are developed.

How you can support

• Bookmark and share the new website internally and across networks.

• Follow and engage with LinkedIn and Instagram channels.
  

Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual Presidents’ Dinner 

The Agricultural Science Association (ASA) held its annual Presidents’ Dinner on Wednesday, 22nd April at Druids Glen Hotel & Golf Resort. Richard Cooper, Our Food Roots Technical Content Lead, and UCD Agricultural Science graduate, was delighted to attend the event, where he delivered an overview of Our Food Roots to attendees.

Bloom 2026: early presence and engagement

We’ll be present at Bord Bia Bloom to build awareness of Our Food Roots and engage directly with the public in a real, human way - not just through campaigns. This includes a number of activities throughout the weekend, including:

• A Sustainable Living Stage panel on reconnecting people with farming via food.

• On-the-ground conversations exploring people’s relationship with food - where it comes from, what it means to them, and the memories, people and places connected to it.

• A small media engagement breakfast with select sector stakeholders and media present at the event. 

How you can support

• Let us know if you’ll be attending - we’d love to connect on the day.

• Suggest potential ambassadors or voices we should engage with at the festival.

• Share any opportunities to collaborate or amplify activity during Bloom.

Coming soon: Our Food Roots sector event

This Summer, we will be hosting a curated gathering of sector stakeholders, media, ambassadors and aligned voices. Taking place in Dublin, the event will explore how to effectively communicate with audiences who may be disengaged or indifferent.

This will be a small, intentional event focused on:

• Building shared understanding of Our Food Root's role and direction in the sector.

• Creating early advocacy and alignment.

• Connecting people through the experience of Irish food.

How you can support

• Expressions of interest for attendance or contribution welcome.

• Suggestions of relevant attendees or voices.

'The Disconnected Consumer’ campaign launch: shaping how we connect with the public

In partnership with our Media Agency Core, progress is continuing on our first major public-facing campaign, launching in late Summer. Creative routes are currently being tested, with strong early signals emerging.

The campaign will focus on rebuilding connection through consistent, high-quality, visible communication at scale by:

• Targeting audiences most disconnected and disengaged from food and farming.

• Highlighting the value and quality  behind Irish food.

• Running across digital, social and out-of-home channels.

How you can support

• Opportunities for collaboration, amplification and participation will follow.
• Early engagement welcome from organisations interested in aligning activity.

Building media understanding and relationships

Media plays a critical role in shaping public understanding. With this in mind, we are beginning a structured media meet-and-greet programme (May–September), engaging key journalists across national and sector media. The aim is to build trusted, long-term relationships and ensure more informed and balanced coverage of food and farming across a number of key topics. 

How you can support:

• Flag relevant stories, spokespeople or insights.

• Get in touch if you have any suggestions or learnings on best practices here.

Our Water Matters: sustained campaign delivery & new media momentum

The Our Water Matters campaign continues to build strong momentum across digital, social and national media channels. With over 21,000 website visits to date and recent Irish Independent coverage, the campaign is strengthening awareness and understanding of shared responsibility for water quality.

How you can support

• Share campaign content across your channels where relevant.

• Use the Irish Independent article in your communications.

• Direct audiences to the campaign webpage for more information.

Infrastructure in place: CRM programme now live

Our CRM and marketing automation system is now live, marking a key milestone in our infrastructure & communications objectives. This moves us from set-up to a more structured, long-term approach to engagement and advocacy.

What this enables

• A more coordinated and scalable approach to engagement.

• Better sharing of insights, content and updates.

• A foundation for future tools, including a Knowledge Management System (in development).

Engaging the next generation: Certified Irish Angus Collaboration

On April 28th, we collaborated with the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition, supporting the Class of 2028 finalists at their induction in the Bord Bia Global Hub. Throughout the day, we worked closely with students to refine their project topics and share our insights on the sector. Students also heard from Claire McCormack, Lecturer / Assistant Professor of Agricultural, Food and Rural Communications at University College Dublin, on effective communication and building a personal brand.

This partnership with Certified Irish Angus was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how meaningful collaboration across the sector can drive stronger outcomes. Through this event, we aimed to support the development of informed, credible young advocates, and to positively shape how future consumers understand and communicate about the sector.

How you can support

• Amplify the programme and its outputs across our Social Media Channels.  

Industry workshop: 'Communicating in a Time of Pressure'

Food and farming now sit at the centre of some of Ireland’s most complex public conversations. The challenge is no longer having the facts; it’s being heard, understood and respected.

With this in mind, we are piloting a flagship workshop with industry leaders, focused on communicating food and farming in a time of pressure, scrutiny and change.

This workshop is designed to help the sector respond with greater clarity, confidence and consistency, exploring:

• The audience increasingly disconnected from food and farming.

• The issues shaping their perceptions.

• How to communicate in a way that is clear, credible and relatable.

How you can support

• Share priority topics or challenges you’d like explored.

• Get in touch if you’d like to participate in future sessions.

Making insight more accessible: educational infographic series

Research creates the most value when it’s clearly understood and easily shared. That’s why we’re developing a series of simple, insight-led infographics designed to make key topics more accessible, engaging, and easy to communicate.

This series aims to translate complex topics into clear, relatable formats, support more consistent understanding across audiences, and provide the sector with accessible content that can be reused and amplified.

These will be shared on our LinkedIn channel over the coming weeks, covering:  Food prices, Origin and provenance, Trust in the sector, The urban–rural divide and Water quality.

How you can support

• Follow along on LinkedIn as the series rolls out.

• Share relevant content within your own channels and networks.

• Use the content to support your own communications where appropriate.

Responding to emerging challenges: pressures facing the Irish grass-fed dairy standard

Grass-fed dairy is a key part of Ireland’s global position. Protecting its credibility requires evolving how the standard is understood, supported and communicated. 

Social listening highlights a small but active set of conversations placing scrutiny on the standard which, while currently limited, have the potential to influence consumer trust. 

If you would like to find out more or get involved in that conversation, please get in touch.

Nutrition in meat: building evidence & stronger voices

Through Meat Technology Ireland, we have convened a group of academics and nutrition experts to independently review and validate scientific proof points related to beef.

This work is designed to strengthen the evidence base for nutrition messaging, identify credible expert spokespeople, develop a practical communications toolkit for the sector, and support new research initiatives - including a study on athletes’ perceptions of red meat.

With increasing scrutiny on red meat, effective communication must be both credible and consistent. This is not just about messaging, but about ensuring the sector is supported by trusted voices, grounded in robust evidence, who can engage confidently in public conversations.

It also highlights a clear opportunity, particularly among younger audiences, where nutrition plays an increasingly important role in food choices.

How you can support:

• Put forward potential expert voices or spokespeople.

• Engage with and adopt the outputs as they are developed.