There seems to be widespread confusion, particularly in Great Britain, about the Northern Ireland Protocol. People haven’t had time to look into the details and seem to think that the restrictions on selling to Northern Ireland apply in both directions. 

It concerns me that this will have an impact on our food and drink producers. While it may be too soon to say, important new information about trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the island was released last week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Dublin. This revealed that cross-border trade rose sharply in January as the new Brexit trading arrangements came into force. 

Also significant is the finding that imports of goods from Great Britain (GB) to the Republic have slumped while exports to Britain have also fallen. What we don’t know…and probably won’t until the end of this year…is the impact of Brexit and the Protocol on trade between Great Britain, our biggest and most important for food and drink products, and Northern Ireland. It appears likely that the statistics could eventually show a decline.  

Brexit, Farm Week readers will know, introduced new bureaucracy and trading rules with the Northern Irish Protocol from our continuing position within the European Union after Britain’s withdrawal from the community.

Certainly, there’s enough evidence from our member companies of problems in sourcing essential supplies and ingredients from Britain including imports from EU members. Retailers continue to experience difficulties in sourcing fresh fruit and vegetables being shipped from EU countries such as Spain through Britain. Drinks companies, in addition, are experiencing problems in sourcing bottles and other essential requirements.  Smaller food producers in Britain have also opted not to supply Northern Ireland due to the document heavy Protocol.

Delis and other specialist food retailers have faced delays in food products including cheese from France and Italy. It’s clear that we need a resolution of Protocol problems… and as soon as practicable.

Another sign of the post-Brexit times is the decision by Bristol-based tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco to announce it will stop selling some brands in Northern Ireland as a result of the cost of setting up separate production lines. The additional lines would be needed because the Northern Ireland Protocol means tobacco products sold in the region must continue to bear EU pictorial health warnings, while GB is moving to Australian health warnings.

We await decisions from Britain and the EU about measures to help companies overcome the delays and other hurdles. It’s vitally important for our economy that any hurdles to trade with Britain are removed or mitigated quickly.

The growth in sales to the Republic, the biggest export market for our food and drink, is good news. And it appears that more companies, especially in the Republic, have turned to Northern Ireland suppliers to help offset difficulties in doing business with Britain.

While this is immensely encouraging, we still need progress on the negotiations to tackle the Protocol delays because Britain remains the biggest market for our food and drink producers in particular.

The CSO said the businesses it spoke to reported that Brexit was behind the trade flow changes as companies looked to avoid the red tape involved when goods cross the Irish Sea.

Traders reported that a combination of factors contributed to the large reduction in imports from Great Britain in January 2021. These included the challenges of complying with customs requirements.

Other factors identified by traders were stockpiling of goods in Quarter 4 2020 in preparation for Brexit, substitution with goods from other countries, and a reduction in trade volumes due to the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions throughout January. 

In total, exports from the Republic to Northern Ireland climbed 17 percent to £170 million in January while imports from Northern Ireland to the Republic climbed 10 percent to £151 million.

The marked fall in imports to the Republic from GB must surely be a worry for the Government in Westminster. Exports to other EU countries have also been adversely impacted in the wake of Brexit. In total, imports on that trade route fell by 65 percent to just £427 million, surely a serious blow to companies across Britain.

Abernethy Butter has won a prestigious Irish Guild of Food Writers Award for their range of butters, lemon curd and handmade fudge. 

Abernethy Butter’s Will and Allison Abernerthy were described by the Guild as “custodians of a near-lost tradition of handmade, hand-rolled butter in Ireland, having begun producing Abernethy Butter around ten years ago and growing it into the award-winning brand it is today, with a variety of flavours as well as handmade fudge and lemon curd. 

“A unique dairy product, commercially unlike any other in Ireland in terms of process, their small-batch, slow-churned, hand-rolled butter shaped with wooden pats is made using Draynes Farm grass-fed, single-herd cream, which Allison and Will found to be the creamiest cream, resulting in the driest, best butter. 

“Abernethy Butter is frequently listed on menus and a star ingredient in dishes of the best restaurants in Ireland and the UK, with a slew of stockists and their walls covered with prestigious awards. Offering a variety of flavours (Dulse Butter, Black Garlic Butter, Smoked Butter, Chipotle Chilli & Smoked Paprika Butter), their unsalted and salted butters are their signature, and ‘Abernethy Gold’ should surely be added to the colour chart for that unmistakable, rich shade each roll bears.”

Speaking after hearing of the award, Allison Abernethy said she and her husband Will were “absolutely delighted and very honoured to be chosen”.

“It is lovely that the Guild have recognised the tradition of hand-made butter” she said. 

The IFWG Food Awards are unique.  No business or individual can enter, nor do they know if they have been nominated or shortlisted for an award.  The Guild is the sole nominating and decision-making body* whose members nominate and anonymously buy products for tasting. Proportional representation voting is then undertaken at a Guild tasting meeting. Winning products must be produced in Ireland and the main ingredient must be Irish grown or produced.

A pile of honeybee books teeter on a table beside my desk. They cover everything from the basics of honeybee husbandry, their ancient origins, to the meaning behind awaggle dance. My favourites, however, are the books dedicated to the wonder of honey. A substance I had not given much thought to before I began beekeeping and experienced the marvel of honey first-hand. Global honey production is now a multi-billion industry and honey fraud is an increasing problem on the world honey market. Thankfully, consumers are becoming more aware of food-miles and the importance of good welfare practices and that makes our locally sourced honey more precious than ever. 

​Our first honey harvest was more exciting than a Christmas Day morning. We all squealed with delight to see the golden liquid pour out of the centrifuge. It was impossible not to put a finger underneath the flow of the thick golden joy. Sometimes, we’d cut out chunks straight from a frame and spread it on hot buttered toast. Each tiny hexagonal wax sealed cell would burst with the most natural sweetnessknown to humankind and ooze glorious goodness. Honey is used with proud and regular abandon in our kitchen, its antibacterial properties have even been put to the test on cuts and grazes. It’s the elixir of our lives and our honeybees are treated with the same reverence as ancient man who believed bees were the tears of God.  To watch a jellybean sized bee travel back and forth to her hive, her hind legs loaded with crumbs of pollen, is to feel the glow of awe.

Any and every season of our weather can be brutal. We all know that. It takes a hardy bee to survive here. My bees have no discernible yellow stripes, the Black Irish honeybee has been carefully bred and curated over generations by local artisanal beekeepers to endure our inclement climate.Researchers have found that Irish heather honey has similar antioxidants to manuka honey and is one of the best in the world for its phenolic compounds. Our native black bees are tough and quiet bees to handle and just like their name suggests their bodies are pewter black. They are entirely unique, an insect form of a pint of Guinness. 

But a threat is coming their way.  In our new post-Brexit world bees can no longer be transported from the EU direct to mainland UK, but a loophole means they can come via Northern Ireland and then be moved on from here. A bee equipment company is set to exploit this situation and in a few weeks three consignments of bees are due to arrive in County Down. Each consignment is due to have 500+ packages of honeybees from the Puglia region in southern Italy. This region of Italy has recently experienced devastating outbreaks of the Small Hive Beetle (SHB) a pest that is lethal to honeybees. A pest that is not yet present on the island of Ireland. The imported bees will fly freely during the peak mating season and nectar-flow months. This will increase the risk of spreading potential disease such as the SHB, it will putincreased pressure on local flowers and fauna, endangering the food source of local solitary bees and bumblebees. It will be an aggressive intrusion that will undoubtably have a negative impact on the conservation of our precious native black bee. 

I’ve written many times before about the wonder honeybees ignite in me. They defy the laws of gravity, endurance and time. An insect that produces the sweetest natural liquid and in turn pollinates one in every three bites we eat. Imagine the acres of apple orchards in our cider county of Armagh without bees there to pollinate them. Bees are invisible food heroes, tiny workers that are never credited on the menu. We need to protect and cherish our native honeybees because they are the only ones who are strong enough to withstand our inhospitable weather cycles. We need to safeguard them whenever and however we can. Twenty-first century living is tough enough for these ancient insects; increased pesticide use, a decrease in wildflower forage and climate change already makes their lives a perilous daily battle. 

Please help by signing the petition below to stop the transportation of Italian honeybees into Northern Ireland.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/577603

By Natasha Geary 

@Tellit2thebees

Bushmills^® Irish Whiskey has announced the release of the Caribbean Rum Cask Finish, the first in a series of exciting and innovative whiskeys from the new Bushmills^® Original Cask Finish range. 

The Caribbean Rum Cask Finish, available from Thursday15 April across the island of Ireland, features the award-winning single malt used in Bushmills Original Irish Whiskey, finished in hand-selected fine oak Caribbean Rum casks. It’s then blended with the brand’s signature triple distilled Irish grain whiskey to create tropical fruit and dry spice flavours.

The secret lies in the casks. First used in the Caribbean to hold rich rum for a minimum of seven years, each cask has beencarefully selected by local rum makers and transported to Ireland.  Over years in Bushmills’ warehouses, these casks impart mellow aromas and flavours to our wonderful single malt in the cask finishing process. The casks impart pineapple sweetness, caramelized brown sugar notes and toffee tones, delivering a long, smooth finish to this rich gold spirit.

Helen Mulholland, Bushmills Master Blender, commented:“The launch of the Cask Finish series is an exciting and innovative move for Bushmills^® Irish Whiskey. The Cask Finish series adds an extra dimension to our acclaimedBushmills^® Original.  As the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery, The Old Bushmills^® Distillery has warehouses bursting with unique casks ageing exquisite whiskey.  We’re very excited to bring our latest innovation to new and discerning whiskey drinkers across the island of Ireland.”

The Bushmills^® Original Cask Finish range is the newest addition to the Bushmills^® family. Each unique cask finish creates extra flavour, choice and variety for premium Irish whiskey drinkers and spirits explorers.  For established Bushmills^® brand lovers, they represent an exciting alternative and a special reward. 

The Bushmills^® Caribbean Rum Cask Finish is on sale from Thursday 15 April via select online and in-store retailers,bottled at 40% ABV, and priced at €30 / £24 for 700ml.

Yellow Door in Portadown, part of one of Northern Ireland’s leading catering and food businesses, has joined other organisations successfully reducing their plastic footprint, despitethe Covid-19 pandemic 

Yellow Door is backing local environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful which is reaching out to the food industry across Northern Ireland to tackle pointless plastic.  

It’s encouraging businesses to complete the ‘Tackling Plastic Business Toolkit’ – a five step guide that can help businesses to navigate reducing their commercial use of plastic.  Steps are designed to showcase businesses efforts by creating a straight forward action plan, saving organisations money and helping to limit plastics entering the environment.  

Yellow Door is one such business that has successfully completed the toolkit. The popular family deli and catering business has made sizeable sustainable strides, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Portadown location has taken steps to remove nearly all single-use plastics and has found biodegradable alternatives where possible. Changes include switching from plastic-lined takeaway cups to 100 percent compostable cups. It demonstrates that despite trading uncertainty, it’s possible for the hospitality industry to make more sustainable supplier choices. 

Businesses who complete the toolkit receive an official certificate and sticker to promote them as a ‘Tackling Plastic Business’ – demonstrating their commitment to helping the environment. 

Richard Wright, manager at Yellow Door, says: “As a business, we’ve been tackling our plastic use and replacing single-use plastics and packaging with alternatives such as compostables and recyclables for quite a while. 

“It’s something that our customers have noticed and are really appreciating. More companies are beginning to offer a greater range of these more sustainable packaging alternatives, and whilst they are a bit more expensive, it’s worth it to know we are doing our bit,” he adds.

There’s now a greater awareness of sustainabilitywithin the food industry. After a successful launch in France in 2020, the Michelin Guide will beintroducing the Green Clover Award into the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2021. This award will celebrate a restaurant’s commitment to sustainability through production methods, sourcing and waste management. This includes conservation of resources, managing food waste and recycling efforts. The Michelin Guide has praised restaurants for their continued sustainability efforts despite the huge challenges faced by the hospitality industry. 

Simon Dougan, Yellow Door managing director,adds: “No-one can be in any doubt that we are facing into a climate emergency. As well as supporting sustainable supply chains, as an industry we need to do our bit to ensure we are as sustainable as possible in every area of the business. Last year we joined the Sustainable Restaurant Association and despite the year we have had we’re determined to keep implementing sustainable changes.”

Claire Hudson, Tackling Plastics coordinator at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, says: “Since we issued the Litter Composition Report in March 2019, we have had an influx of local businesses, food industry in particular, seeking advice on changes they can make to join the effort to tackle plastic.  In response, we created this toolkit that gives businesses the tools they need to understand how they can make changes for the better as a business and as a member of our community.”

Claire continues: “The templates provided help businesses audit their current situation and highlight where change is needed – it then rewards their efforts, helping to promote to customers and other businesses that they are joining this fight and evoking change. It is our vision that every business in Northern Ireland will download this toolkit and even in the smallest way – strive to eradicate pointless plastic.” 

Many of the offending items identified in a recent Litter Composition Report 2019-20 commissioned by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful were linked to food industry such as single-use plastic bottles, takeaway cups and confectionary wrappers. There are up to 1.3 million littered items on Northern Ireland’s streets at any one time, with 71% containing plastic*. The toolkit also has information on current EU Directives, examples of how to streamline businesses use of plastic and even how to create an Environmental Policy.

Castlescreen Farm, a producer of a wide range of premium meat products, has beencertified by the Pasture Fed Livestock Association (PFLA), the only Dexter farm to achieve this important certification.

PFLA champions the virtues of pastoral farming, providing a distinct identity for systems where animals eat only grass and forage crops their entire life. Food produced this way is much tastier and healthier for humans to eat than meat from animals fed grain. 

Some meat and dairy in the UK is already sold as ‘Grass-Fed’. However, this term can be used to describe products from animals that, as well as grazing, have also eaten cereals, manufactured feeds, or by-products from food manufacturing.

Only meat and dairy displaying the Pasture Mark comes with a guarantee the animals have been fed a completely natural diet. 

Only farms inspected and certified by the PFLA can guarantee that an animal has been fed a 100 percent pasture diet. 

There are significant benefits for people, animals and the countryside, from eating food derived from pasture farming. Fields of just grass can provide all the nutritional components an animal needs. However, pastures which contain a variety of plant species, including herbs, wildflowers and clovers provide an even better diet – rich in essential vitamins and minerals drawn up from the soil below. They also support a diverse range of wildlife. 

We are always working to produce ethical meat, farmed in a manner that honours natural systems and increases bio-diversity, having a positive impact on our soil and countryside. The PFLA certification recognises and honours these standards. 

Castlescreen Farm is owned and run by Damien Tumelty and partner Jackie Gibson, regular participants at local farmers’ markets.

As well as a range of premium quality dexter beef products, Castlescreen has expanded to include other meats including pork, lamb and chicken, all readily available in the butchery now a central part of the recently opened farm shop. There’s also honey from hives on the farm.