A new, permanent, board of Our Food Roots is set to be in place by the autumn, according to the executive director Tom Cronin.

Cronin confirmed that the new board could include persons independent of the funding organisations, with these issues being discussed currently.

He said the new board “will have the appropriate representative balance and membership sources to help deliver the ambition and effective future workings of the organisation”.

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Meanwhile, Our Food Roots and UCD launched their new project this week, announcing former journalist Claire McCormack as a lecturer in agricultural, food and rural communications at UCD.

Our Food Roots confirmed it is part-funding UCD to carry out this work, providing 40% of the financial backing. Funding for the first two years of the five-year programme has been committed to.

UCD’s Karina Pierce sits on the board of both Bord Bia and Our Food Roots, but it was confirmed by Cronin that UCD were “not involved in the decision-making process [to allocate funds to UCD], excusing themselves from the board deliberations on the matter”.

Bord Bia has said that so far it has contributed €200,000 towards the establishment and initial operation of Our Food Roots, alongside contributions from processors, agencies and farm organisations.

Bord Bia also said that the use of its office space by Our Food Roots is an interim arrangement during Our Food Roots first year, which commenced in September 2025.

In relation to accounts and annual reports for 2025, Cronin confirmed that the annual report for 2026, which will be published in 2027, will also include a period of 2025.

The board of Our Food Roots has previously decided that no annual report will be published for last year, despite the organisation being operational since September 2025.

However, Cronin has confirmed that audited accounts will be available for 2025 later this year.

The National Dairy Council (NDC) has confirmed that it has so far contributed 7% of its farmer levy funding to Our Food Roots, but the Irish Farmers Journal understands that it has significant funding to Our Food Roots for 2026.

Milk suppliers to Lakeland Dairies do not make any contribution to the NDC and are therefore not funding Our Food Roots. When queried, a spokesperson for Lakeland Dairies said: “Lakeland Dairies’ position in relation to Our Food Roots has not changed. We acknowledge and appreciate the objectives behind the project and remain supportive of its aims.

“However, we do not believe it represents the best use of farmers’ resources at this time. We remain firmly committed to working collaboratively with all industry stakeholders to promote Irish agriculture.”

Separately, Dairygold Co-op reaffirmed its commitment to the NDC, saying the vast majority of its members contribute to it through the voluntary levy.

“The allocation of funding is a matter for the NDC board, on which Dairygold is represented,” it said.

Tirlán confirmed this week that Lisa Koep, chief environment, social and governance (ESG) officer with Tirlán “was asked to join” the interim board of Our Food Roots “given her role as chief ESG officer with Tirlán and her international expertise in the area of communications and sustainability”. Tirlán is the only dairy processor with a seat on the interim board, with Conor Mulvihill from Ibec’s Dairy Industry Ireland provisionally holding a seat.