In response to these market conditions, Bord Bia’s bespoke industry wide COVID-19 response for the food, drink and horticulture sector is built around three key focus areas:

Bord Bia will keep clients up-to-date on the impact of COVID-19 on worldwide trade and the implications for Ireland through 1. the Bord Bia Thinking House which charts consumer insights;  2. the Bord Bia Markets Team which offers global perspectives on international trade and critical issues like global supply chain challenges and 3. the Bord Bia Sectors Team offering up-to-date sectoral intelligence to manufacturers.

A regular ‘Navigating Change: Markets Focus Report’ will be published bi-weekly detailing supply and demand trends and implications across the supply chain worldwide along with podcasts throughout the week.

Bord Bia has instigated a number of COVID-19 related supports including: a €1m marketing grant programme to help Irish producers generate demand in a rapidly changing landscape; Training and mentoring programmes including Navigating Change Supply Chain Mentoring, Lead Generation in a Changed Landscape, Think Digital training programme.

Bord Bia has made immediate and practical changes  to Origin Green and Quality Assurance audit procedures during the COVID-19 crisis

Bord Bia continues to engage closely with retailers on the Irish market to share supplier challenges and identify new opportunities for companies who can fill supply gaps and provide a compelling offer to consumers.

When the immediate and severe impacts of COVID-19 abate, food and drink companies must start planning for a post COVID-19 future. This is a key aspect of Navigating Change and Bord Bia will provide specific supports throughout this crisis – bespoke to each phase so clients can adapt to new market conditions; recover and reset.

With over 3.5 billion people now in lockdown, many new behaviours are being forced upon consumers, experimented with, and are bringing new learnings for businesses worldwide. Understanding consumer behaviour is a critical part of enabling businesses to plan ahead appropriately and to move forward with confidence post COVID-19.

 According to research in the University of London, it takes 66 days to change a habit and so in tracking how people behave during this crisis, it will allow Bord Bia identify new behavioural norms that are likely to emerge.

Indicators tracking, from the Thinking House at Bord Bia, is designed with this intent; to allow businesses understand the behavioural changes that are unfolding. These indicators will allow Bord Bia to map out the big shifts in consumer behaviour that are manifesting themselves during the crisis with a view to understanding behaviours that are likely to “stick” and emerge post crisis.

 Consequently, they allow Bord Bia to start identifying the implications these newly formed behaviours will have for food and drinks businesses going into the future.

Indicators will focus on themes including; how consumers are cooking to how people are socialising. The first four Indicators; “Shielding”; “Comfort Cooking”; “Trace Tech” and “Simply Safe” are available here.

 Full details of Bord Bia’s Navigating Change COVID-19 Response programme and suite of supports is available at: https://www.bordbia.ie/industry/COVID-19-information/.