We are delighted to announce the expert panel of speakers and conference agenda for Friday 27 January in the RDS, Dublin. The conference runs from 8.30am to 1pm.

Speakers

European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan

Phil Hogan was appointed European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development in 2014. He served as Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government from 2011 until 2014. He was first elected to the Dáil in 1989. Between 1987 and 1989, he was a member of Seanad Éireann. He briefly served as Minister of State for the Department of Finance with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works between December 1994 and February 1995.

He has held a number of spokesperson positions for his party, including on the food industry; consumer affairs; regional affairs and European development; enterprise, trade and employment; and environment.

Tara McCarthy

Tara is CEO of Bord Bia. She previously held the position of CEO of Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Prior to this she was a director in the food and beverage division in Bord Bia for eight years. She also was a senior manager in Bord Bia’s consumer foods division from 2001 to 2011. Prior to returning to Dublin, McCarthy worked in Europe for Bord Bia where she was director of French and Belgian operations from 1999 to 2001. McCarthy has been a regular contributor to the Government’s Food Harvest 2020 and Food Wise 2025 reports. She is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.

John Clarke

John Clarke is responsible for international affairs, in particular multilateral negotiations with industrialised countries including the US and Japan and Africa, in European Commission DG Agriculture. He joined the European Commission in 1993 and was Head of WTO Affairs from 2004 to 2007. He was Chargé d'Affaires of the EU Delegation in 2010, representing the EU in the WTO, and the UN agencies. Before joining the European Commission, Clarke worked from 1983 to 1993 for the Hong Kong government.

Sir Lockwood Smith

Sir Lockwood is the current high commissioner of New Zealand to the UK. He is also ambassador to Ireland. He served as a member of parliament from 1984 until his retirement in early 2013 to pursue a diplomatic career. During his parliamentary career, he served as a senior minister in various portfolios including education, agriculture, and trade. He also served as deputy minister for finance. Prior to entering politics, Sir Lockwood was the New Zealand Dairy Board’s marketing manager for central and southeast Asia. He also runs a beef farming operation.

Michael Haverty

Michael joined The Andersons Centre in 2015 as senior agricultural economist. He specialises in competitiveness analysis, benchmarking, market development strategy and opportunity analysis. He was previously a senior analyst with IHS and led numerous research projects on industrial markets across several geographic regions. He has worked in marketing and policy-related roles with Syngenta, JFC Manufacturing Ltd, Newcastle University and the European Commission.

Kevin Cahill

As a premier global food provider, the OSI Group partners with the world’s leading foodservice and retail food brands to provide concept-to-table solutions that delight consumers around the globe.

As Managing Director of the Groups European organization Kevin Cahill leads the groups business which manufactures in over 20 sites across eight European countries .

OSI Europe processes 300,000t of value added beef, chicken and pork products for the Foodservice & Retail sectors in partnership with some leading global brands. As part of an integration strategy, OSI Europe also processes over 400,000 cattle annually in the UK, Germany, Poland and Austria.

Kevin worked for many years in the Irish Meat industry with Kepak Group in a variety of roles most recently as CEO of the groups Meat division from 2011 to 2016.

Joe Healy

Joe is a dairy, sheep and livestock farmer from Athenry, Co Galway, and was elected president of the Irish Farmers Association in April 2016. Joe has been an active member of IFA for more than 20 years, serving most recently on the farm business committee as the Galway IFA representative. He was president of Macra na Feirme from 1995 to1997 and vice-chair of CEJA (European Young Farmers Association) from 1997 to 1999. He sits on the board of the Agricultural Trust and serves as a director of Bord Bia and Farmer Business Developments.

Nick Whelan

Nick joined became group chief executive at Dale Farm in August 2014. He brings with him a wealth of experience after occupying a variety of prominent roles. Prior to this he was commercial director with Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, having joined the business in 2007. He also held a number of senior management positions with the Kerry Group over a 12-year period including business unit director for Kerry ingredients Europe.

Anne Finnegan

Anne Finnegan is Head of Agri Sector with AIB. With a Degree in Agricultural Science from UCD, she undertook PhD research into farm health and safety in Ireland. She has undertaken consultancy work for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development into farm credit in Georgia.

Conference agenda

8.30am Registration

9am Welcome and introduction – Justin McCarthy, editor and CEO, Irish Farmers Journal

9am to 10am Session one: setting the scene – Ireland and global trade

  • Chair: Justin McCarthy.
  • Keynote address: Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture.
  • Overview of Irish exports and modelling the future – Tara McCarthy, CEO, Bord Bia
  • 10am to 11am: Session two: the trade negotiations that will limit or grow Irish agriculture

  • Chair: Phelim O’Neill, markets analyst with the Irish Farmers Journal.
  • The negotiation of trade deals: John Clarke, director, international affairs, European Commission DG Agriculture.
  • New Zealand and free trade: Sir Lockwood Smith, New Zealand high commissioner to the UK.
  • Brexit from an Irish perspective: Michael Haverty, senior agricultural economist, Andersons consultants.
  • 11am to 11.15am networking break

    11.15am to 12.30pm Session three: managing risk from Brexit and trade deals

  • Chair: Eoin Lowry, Irish Farmers Journal agribusiness editor.
  • Nick Whelan, CEO Dale Farm.
  • Kevin Cahill, CEO, OSI.
  • Joe Healy, president, IFA.
  • Anne Finnegan, Head of Agri, AIB.
  • 12:30pm Close of conference: Justin McCarthy

    12.45pm Lunch

    More information

    For more details visit the Global Trade website.

    Spaces are limited so book now.

    Registration (including lunch) €150.