Few things annoy Irish farmers as much as walking into their local supermarket and seeing lots of imported products on the shelves that could be produced at home.
When prices are good, this is just an irritation, but if prices are poor, then it is often the trigger for protests.
While the domestic market should never be neglected, the reality is that the price of produce coming off Irish farms is dictated by whatever sales value is achieved in export markets.
This is because, on average, over 90% of what we produce in beef and dairy is exported, a bit less for the poultry, pig and sheep meats.
Irish grain is an exception, in that we consume more than we produce, largely through animal feed, and tillage farmers have a point when they lobby for a greater use of Irish grain in livestock feed.
Promotion of local sourcing
Across the other commodities, it is what happens in export markets that is really important in setting the value.
If we notice an imported yogurt or steak in our local supermarket, it does give shoppers a choice, but it won't make any significant impact on farmgate price.
What we tend to find in practice, particularly in the retail sector, is that there is a really strong focus on highlighting their sourcing of locally produced produce.
That means that the same supermarket group in Ireland which is promoting its sourcing of Irish products will have the same policy in the UK, with the focus switched to emphasising its UK sourcing policy.
This is worth keeping in mind in the context of the controversy that has developed around Larry Murrin in his role as chair of Bord Bia.
The case for his resignation due to the sourcing policy of his company has been well articulated by the Irish Farmers's Association (IFA) and others.
This week, in an exclusive interview with Irish Farmers Journal agribusiness editor Lorcan Roche Kelly, Larry Murrin pushed back strongly and defended his position on where his business buys its beef and his role as Bord Bia chair.
Not black and white, more grey
As is often the case when there are two entrenched opposite positions, there isn’t a simple right and wrong, black or white answer. To stay with the colour theme, it is more likely a messy shade of grey.
Over a distinguished career, Larry Murrin has built an extremely successful food processing business in Dawn Farm Foods.
It operates in a category that is a further step removed from the processing that happens to the milk and meat from Irish farms, that goes to the local creamery or abattoir. Its exports mainly fall into the prepared consumer foods (PCF) category that generated €3.6bn of export sales in 2025.
These foods are manufactured using a multitude of component parts. Meat and dairy are components in some categories of PCF, but many use none at all.
Dawn Farm Foods has said that it sources most of the beef it uses in Ireland, but that other beef, including Brazilian, is used as well.
This is the basis for the objection to Larry Murrin serving as chair of Bord Bia; the view being that the chair of Bord Bia should not be a customer of Brazilian beef, however small the quantity.
A contrary view is that the knowledge of global supply chains and markets equips Larry Murrin with an ideal skill set to serve as chair of Ireland’s food and drink promotion board.
Bord Bia needs to function
Whatever the merits of the respective positions on this matter, the reality is that Bord Bia is hampered by the stand-off in doing its job of promoting Irish food and drink.
The operational side of the business revolves around committees delivering the less glamorous parts of the business. For farmers, the best-known part of this work will be the quality assurance schemes.
These can be compared with a visit to the dentist – we know it is essential for our dental health, but never something we look forward to. It is the same with quality assurance - we know it is essential to get the best value for the product from Irish farms, but everyone dreads the inspection!
Bord Bia is an organisation primarily funded by Government, but with a significant €6m (approximately) contribution from farmers through levies.
The bottom line is that whatever the view on the chair being right or wrong, Bord Bia cannot function properly without farmer buy-in.
It can, of course, continue to exist as an organisation in a technical sense, even if it is not able to do its normal work. This doesn’t serve anyone’s interests.
At that point we wonder why one of the most successful entrepreneurs of his generation in the Irish food and drink industry would want to have anything to do with that version of Bord Bia.
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