The Department for the Economy has announced that the term of appointment of members of the Agri-Food Strategy Board (AFSB) is to be extended to 31 August 2017.

The board, which consists of eight prominent figures within the local agri-food industry, is chaired by Dunbia deputy chief executive, Tony O’Neill, and was originally established in May 2012 to develop a long-term strategy for the agri-food industry in NI.

One year later, it produced the “Going for Growth” report, making a total of 118 recommendations for industry and the Government.

However, it then took until October 2014 for the Stormont Executive to provide a formal response. With the original term of the board to finish in February 2015, the agriculture and economy ministers at the time (Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill) granted a two-year extension, taking the board tenure to February 2017.

Earlier this year, the latest incumbents in those same ministerial posts (Michelle McIlveen and Simon Hamilton) granted another short extension to 31 May 2017.

But with no functioning executive at Stormont, the most recent reprieve comes without ministerial approval.

Work to do

The life of the board has again been extended because there is still work to do, particularly around two main issues.

The first is a new agri-food marketing body to promote NI food and drink.

Setting this up has proved to be a frustratingly slow process, and it is now over two years since the then Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster announced that a new NI body would be based on the model from Scotland (Scotland Food and Drink).

In September 2015, the NI Food Marketing Association Ltd was established as a legal entity, with members of the AFSB listed as directors of the new company. So a legal entity exists, but as yet no working structure or funding.

The second issue is a new industry body tasked with accelerating gain in livestock genetics/genomics in the dairy, beef and sheep sectors. This project is further advanced than the new marketing organisation, with a business case currently with DAERA.

Structure

Ultimately, the aim of the AFSB is to put in place a structure around an organisation leading on marketing NI food and drink, and on taking forward livestock genetic improvement, before finally coming to an end.

However, at present, it seems highly unlikely that this can be achieved by 31 August 2017. Another extension to the board will probably be required, preferably coming from Government ministers, as part of a functioning executive at Stormont.