Of course it was inevitable the trade arrangements surrounding the Irish Sea Border that followed Britain’s final withdrawal from the EU would mean a period of chaos due to the increased bureaucratic requirements. We all hoped that this wouldn’t be the case and that trade would continue unfettered, as was promised.

The new rules manifestly created confusion in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland especially in food shipments. Very many manufacturers in Britain were clearly unprepared for the radical changes. 

The outcome was a shortage of food, especially fresh fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves here, exacerbated by panic buying among shoppers that was also driven by concern over the lockdown. Urgent action is needed to iron out the serious problems. The real danger is, of course, that the heavy duty bureaucracy around food may result in suppliers withdrawing from Northern Ireland. 

The retail and food production sectors cannot afford disruption to trade with Britain.  It is our biggest single market and one in which leading retailers have come to depend on supplies from Northern Ireland. We need the links between the supermarkets in Britain and their operations here to continue and indeed to be strengthened in both short and long terms. Our major manufacturers and also very many smaller products look to these retailers in Britain for growth.

National supermarkets have contingency plans in place for the immediate future. And I commend Sainsbury’s for its contingency agreement with Henderson Wholesale which has led to local products filling possible gaps in supermarket shelves. A number of our member companies are benefiting from this initiative. This is an important opportunity for smaller companies to gain an initial food hold in such stores. 

There’s a message, of course, for the supermarkets that Northern Ireland producers offer significant supply opportunities and a way to offset the new bureaucracy. We’d certainly be keen to play our part in helping them find local suppliers offering quality, outstanding taste and innovation. 

In addition, another benefit of the agreement serves to introduce more local foods to supermarket shoppers here, which is good for the local industry and smaller producers in particular.

As I’ve written many times before in this column, we have outstanding food and drink and totally professional producers which have won recognition from leading food writers such as the late Charles Campion, the widely respected and perceptive MasterChef judge and outstanding commentator, who sadly passed away just before Christmas.  His support for our industry was immensely encouraging. He was a game changer who showed us that our food is genuinely world class.

I know Charles would have been pleased to see the connection between Henderson’s and Sainbury’s, in his own words ‘ thereis outstanding food and drink in Northern Ireland and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.’

Irish Black Butter has been named Artisan Food Product in Northern Ireland by the high-end LUX Life magazine in Britain.

The artisan producer, which is based at Portrush in country Antrim and is owned by local businessman Alastair Bell, has won widespread support for its unique Bramley apple-based savoury spread, an original product that’s now on sale throughout the UK, Republic of Ireland and, most recently, the US.

Mr Bell, commenting on the latest award for the unique spread, says: “This recognition came as a complete but very pleasant surprise. it’s a marvellous accolade for Irish Black Butter at a most challenging time for all small food producers and great profile in awards for companies from all over the world.

“LUXLife is a very interesting and quality conscious magazine that’s aimed at people who enjoy the finer things of life and especially “the best food products available”. It’s tremendously encouraging to be included within such a sharp focus and by a panel of expert judges in what was an exacting process,” he adds.

The LUXLife Food & Drink Awards was created to “commend those who go above and beyond for their customers and/or consumers to ensure that their appetites are catered for, especially in light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak which has seen many businesses in the food and drink industry face unprecedented challenges over the past few months”.

Commenting on the winners of this year’s awards programme, Coordinator Katherine Benton says: “It’s been a difficult year for the hospitality and food and drink industries. With that, I offer my sincere congratulations to all of those recognised. I hope you have a better, and thriving year ahead.”

The Food & Drink Awards commend businesses who prove themselves to be innovators in one of the world’s most competitive industries by bringing fresh, exciting ideas forward, and celebrate the outstanding achievements made by those looking to solidify their reputation as industry leaders.

All participants were judged purely on merit and only the most deserving are acknowledged.

Final judgement is based on various criteria such as: business performance, longevity, business growth (either sustained or rapid) and any significant innovations or feedback. The magazine spans “the highest net worth individuals from around the world” and major brands.

 The awards were set up to showcase “the best of the best, so readers can rest assured that you are at the very cutting edge of the latest luxury trends and high-end developments.”

Irish Black Butter was established in 2017 by Mr Bell to create a distinctive Northern Ireland savoury spread from Armagh Bramley apples, which have EU protected status, with treacle, spices and brandy. The spread was a three-star Great Taste Award winner in 2019. The spread has also won Blas na hEireann Irish National Food awards.

Lagan Ribs in Belfast has introduced a new dry rub for flavouring meat. The small company, which has developed a successful business producing handcrafted sauces at St George’s Market in Belfast, created the new rub through a focus on innovative food products during the coronavirus lockdown.

The rub, according to chef John O’Hare, who founded the company with business partner and longstanding friend John Graham, is the outcome of work over several months. “I’ve been experimenting with the rub for some considerable time. In addition to the traditional spices, the rub features a small amount of dulse harvested by hand from the local coastline for a different flavour,” he adds.

The company has been providing freshly cooked ribs on a food-to-go basis at the popular market.

“It’s been an immensely difficult year, one we all want to forget,” he says. “We had launched Lagan Rib in late 2018and had been looking forward to growing the business especially last year,” he continues. “We had just launched a range of our own sauces at St George’s and had set up a small kitchen just around the corner from the building.

“We love the market,” he continues, “there’s a great vibe especially when there’s a live band. The craic is mighty particularly with visitors from abroad eager to find out how we cook the ribs and our unique marinade. We also try to use as many ingredients as possible from other traders such as bread, vegetables and spices. The ribs are sourced from Armstrong Meats at Castlereagh,” he explains. “Our hope is that the market gets back quickly to those days when the coronavirus has gone.

“We’d make the sauces and marinate pork ribs overnight and then take them over the road to our stall every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Business was brisk especially from hundreds of tourists who came to enjoy our freshly marinated and pulled ribs in a bun and also to buy our range of sauces,” he adds. The popularity of their sauces – Irish Whiskey, Irish Cider, and Rum and Raisin – led to requests from shoppers where they could buy them outside the market,” he adds. The tourists, of course, largely disappeared in 2020. And there were fewer local shoppers when the market was open.

“We certainly saw scope to build a strong business on the back of the distinctive sauces and other food we had been looking at,” he continues. “The pandemic inhibited our work at the market and encouraged us to look at other ideas including retailing the sauces and our recent launch of a dry rub for meats. Innovation is the way ahead for us now.

The two friends have known each other for over 30 years and both worked separately in bars around Belfast. John Graham owned several local pubs while John O’Hare served his time as a chef and created tasty dishes in pubs, such as the famed Kitchen Bar, before his retirement in 2018.

The hugely successful RARE BREED – A Farming Year returns to our screens next Tuesday 12th January at 7.30pm, with seven families from across Northern Ireland giving us an inside view of the ups and downs of their year in 2020.

Rare Breed is the ground-breaking year-in-the-life documentary series charting the reality of farming in Northern Ireland.  The series, in its nineth year, features several people including three families whose daughters are stepping up to look after the family business along with a new community farm in County Antrim. In Fermanagh, the series also meets a young couple running a dairy enterprise.

In the first episode we meet five of the families.  First off is the Preston family at their sheep farm near Gortin,Tyrone. They are busy preparing for their pedigree Beltex flock’s lambing season, with Zara and her dad, Kenny building maternity pens, ensuring all is clean and ready for the ewes. Kenny comments, “If it’s not clean, it’s not right,” pointing out that there is too much money involved in the process to run the risk of disease. Zara is studying floristry at college but wouldn’t ever miss lambing season.

We then meet Jonny Hanson who runs a unique farm just outside Glynn, near Larne. Jubilee is the first of its type in Northern Ireland, it’s funded and worked by a group of like-minded people with a passion for growing their own food.  Opened in 2019, the farm has a marketgarden, pigs, geese, and goats.  Jonny studied snow leopards in Nepal before taking on the farm and jokes about farming preparing you for parenthood. “You shovel it in one end, shovel it out at the other, trying not to lose your life or your sanity!”

James Alexander is a familiar face to Rare Breed fans. He farms cattle and sheep with his family near Randalstown, Antrim.  James produces in–calf cattle to sell on to other farmers and has developed his sheep flock since he last took part in the series. In the first episode, James is having 320 cattle artificially inseminated (AI). The process is complicated and time consuming, but he has plenty of helpers, including Jack Smyth from the last series of Rare Breed. James comments, “The big days are the best days.” James’children are also featured in the series as they are now old enough to help during the lambing season in the Spring.

We find ourselves back in Tyrone at Des Kelly’s cattle and sheep farm near Ballygawley. He got a nice New Year’s surprise in the form of six new lambs, as a result of an over amorous ram lamb being left in too long with some ewes!  Combining farming with a job in accountancy, Des has full time help on the farm from experienced herdsman, Rodrigo Ferreira who originally honed his animals handling skills in his native Brazil. In January, Des and Rodrigo are getting to grips with a new hi-tech feeding machine for the cattle.

Our last stop in the first episode is to Fermanagh, where young couple, Margaret and Andrew Little run a progressive dairy enterprise near Tempo. Andrew is a second generation farmer working alongside his Dad, Raymond. Former nurse Margaret is busy rearing calves in the farm’s ‘maternity’ unit, driving during silage season, and vaccinating among many other jobs. She also has several Simmental cattle and later in the series we see her and Andrew’s Mum, Katherine developing the vegetable garden for the family.  

Later in the series we meet young farmer Emily McGowan, from Balloo outside Newtownards, who studied agriculture at Harper Adams in Shropshire, England and returned home to launch a new farm shop venture. She’s following in her dad, Adrian’s footsteps –he’s one of Northern Ireland’s leading farmers and Emily is working closely with him to learn all she can to be a top farmer.  

We also meet Claire Shearer and Davy Kinkead. This young couple breed and sell Irish sports horses in Comber. It’s a hobby, business and passion for Care Assistant Clare. Davy gave up his motorbikes  to support Clare and says he doesn’t regret switching two wheels for four legs!

Tony Curry, Programmes Editor at UTV said, “Rare Breed – A Farming Year has become a firm favourite amongst UTV viewers who look forward to the return of the agricultural series each year in our New Year schedule. Once again, each of the 12 episodes take us through the year, and this year more than most, we see the realities of modern farming and get an armchair view into the lives of the people who carry on this vital tradition and industry. I’m sure the series will entertain, educate and delight in equal measure.”

The series is produced for UTV by Belfast’s Strident Media. Producer Cara Dinsmore said, said, “Rare Breed is a wonderful series to film. It is fascinating to see how different farmers work and how they handle the inevitable highs and lows that the weather and life throw at them”.  

Strident Media MD, Kelda Crawford-McCann said, “We really enjoy producing Rare Breed. It’s a pleasure to make, there are so many big characters running farms here. They are always full of enthusiasm for what they do and have genuine interest and passion for their work. We are delighted that every year UTV viewers support the series, watching in their tens of thousands”.

UTV’s Mark McFadden once again narrates the series. Sponsored by Moy Park, Rare Breed – A Farming Yearstarts on Tuesday 12th January at 7.30pm on UTV.