What led you to work in Bord Bia?

Coming from a tillage farm and having graduated with an agricultural science degree followed by a masters in food business strategy, I felt equipped to follow a career in agriculture. Prior to Bord Bia, I worked in Teagasc and spent a year in Australia.

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The opportunity to join Bord Bia as horticulture standards co-ordinator appealed as it allows me have a career in agriculture and work directly with growers in the horticulture sector.

Has farming background influenced how you do your job in Bord Bia?

It has and still does as I am actively involved in the tillage enterprise at home along with my dad and I also have my own farm. This means that when I engage with farmers, I have firsthand knowledge of what they are experiencing and we talk each other’s language right from the start of a conversation.

This is particularly useful when it comes to discussing and explaining standards and why they exist. I appreciate that growers are already producing to very high standards, and my role is to help ensure those standards are recognised and valued by retailers and consumers.

I am particularly keen that standards also work for farmers as well as delivering customer expectations.

What does your job involve?

As with many of my colleagues in Bord Bia, no two days are the same. A big part of my work is being the main point of contact for our horticulture scheme members and auditors, supporting them with technical queries, resolving issues, and ensuring clear communication between producers, auditors and the wider Bord Bia team.

I also bring the feedback and experiences from the sector back into how we operate and continually improve our schemes. I coordinate the delivery of Bord Bia’s Sustainable Horticulture Assurance Scheme and I still do some audits myself.

I find this really useful for keeping in touch with and understanding the issues faced by growers.

More recently I’m managing the development of the new Combinable Crop Assurance Scheme standard and preparing for its pilot phase.

This involves developing the standard, coordinating technical advisory committee meetings, and working closely with farmers, industry stakeholders and colleagues to ensure the scheme is practical, robust and aligned with customer requirements.

What value does Bord Bia add to Irish horticulture?

Quality assurance schemes are vital for Irish horticulture, providing independently verified assurance that gives retailers, foodservice buyers, and consumers confidence in the quality and sustainability behind our produce. At Bord Bia, we actively promote Irish growers and their produce and drive demand through Bord Bia Bloom, our Quality Mark campaigns, and education programmes.

On top of that, growers can draw on our market insight and data, and on supports around export development and business capability. We are also developing a future horticulture leaders programme, created specifically to support generational renewal and the next generation of Irish growers. It sits alongside a Growers Network, a group of growers who come together to share experiences.

Tell us more about the tillage scheme you are working on

This is the Combinable Crop Assurance Scheme, which came directly from the recommendations of the Food Vision Tillage Group, which identified the need for a sustainable quality assurance scheme for the tillage sector aligned with Origin Green. It is a three-year pilot designed to develop a robust assurance framework for Irish tillage farmers. The success of the scheme will depend on getting the balance right between ensuring the requirements are workable for farmers while delivering something meaningful for the market.

It builds on the foundations of the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme (IGAS), while looking to develop a framework that reflects the evolving needs of the sector and the wider marketplace. A Technical Advisory Committee was established at the beginning of 2026, chaired by Andy Doyle of Tillage Industry Ireland, bringing together expertise from across the sector.

What value does Bord Bia add?

Bord Bia brings credibility and a proven assurance infrastructure. Developing a standard is one thing, but ensuring it is independently verified, internationally recognised and capable of standing up to scrutiny is where assurance schemes add real value.

We also recognise that any new scheme has to demonstrate clear value and can’t be just another administrative burden.