5th APRIL 2108

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5th APRIL 2108 - Page 1

FARM
WEEK
WIN KUBOTA
RTV
400
BEST OF BREED AND A REALLY GOOD READ
New venue for
ITBA Northern
Region Awards
SEE INSIDE
See page 75
NOVEMBER 09 2017 www.farmweek.com PRICE £1.30 (€2)
Celebrating
the genius of
Harry Ferguson
MEMORIAL LECTURE:
Pictured at the Harry
Ferguson Memorial Lecture
in Hillsborough are,
from left, Sean McAvoy,
Massey Ferguson field
technical manager; Sally
Fleming, Harry Ferguson’s
granddaughter; Campbell
Scott, director of marketing
at Massey Ferguson; and
Robert Kerr, chairman of the
Harry Ferguson Celebration
Committee.
MORE PICTURES INSIDE
Picture: Cliff Donaldson
Future bright for FQAS beef
T
HE future is looking good
for Northern Ireland’s
beef producers if they
can make the most of the
promotional opportunities
presented by the Farm Quality
Assurance Scheme.
This was the upbeat message
from Professor Patrick Wall
from University College Dublin’s
School of Public Health, when he
addressed the celebratory dinner
on Tuesday evening to mark the
25th anniversary of the scheme.
Professor Wall dispelled much of
the doom and gloom surrounding
the Brexit debate, saying that
Brexit will not be a disaster for sector claims professor
REPORT
By ROBERT IRWIN
r.irwin@farmweek.com
for the discerning consumer, the
differentiation offered by the FQAS
would be more important than ever
before in gaining a significant part
of the top end of the beef business
in GB. Given the size of the GB
market and the opportunities it
presented, Professor Wall said
Brexit would not be such a disaster
for NI farms. He warned the local
beef sector to steer clear of the
commodity market and not to
undersell the tremendous product
we have in Northern Ireland.
He told beef producers that they
are in the health business.
“Producers must drive home
the message that they produce
something special. If you look at
it as being in the health business
then you have a reason to comply
with the scheme requirements.
You must be more aggressive
ambassadors for the industry. You
need to speak up. If you leave a
vacuum then all sorts of messages
are presented to consumers.”
Professor Wall said that when
it comes to health and nutrition
messages, primary agriculture
always gets ‘clobbered’. “We must
promote beef as a nutritional
product. Learn from the dairy
industry which has become
an ingredients industry with
successes such as whey protein
and nutritional products for the
elderly.
“If you extract ingredients from
meat they can be equally as
important for sports nutrition or
products for the elderly.”
But he also warned of the
dangers of adverse publicity over
issues such as food safety and
environmental impact. “Don’t
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