Bord Bia is launching a new grass-fed dairy standard that will include 99% of the milk pool in the Republic of Ireland.

Increased competition in Ireland and abroad from products claiming a grass-fed standard has pushed Irish authorities and Irish companies to quantify and produce their own grass-fed standards.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands the Bord Bia grass-fed standard:

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  • Is for farms operating under a 95% grass-fed threshold.
  • Will include 99% of the milk pool.
  • Will be fully accredited and will not be open to milk from Northern Ireland.
  • We also understand Bord Bia is working on a grass-fed standard for beef but this is not yet ready for release and is more complex, given how the end product is divided and sold into different channels.

    In October 2018, Teagasc food and grassland research scientists held a grass-fed conference in Naas, Co Kildare.

    At that meeting, researchers and industry professionals described how hundreds of new grass-fed standards are created every year across the world with individual companies trying to get a marketing advantage over other competitors.

    At the conference there were calls for a national Irish grass-fed standard to be created.

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