Dairy: Food for Life Annual Report 2009 - The National Dairy Council

Chief Executive’s Statement: 2009 in Review
IT WouLD bE hARD To ovERsTATE the particular
challenges the economic turmoil of 2009 presented to the Irish
dairy industry, particularly over the first half of the year. Of
most immediate concern to those of us closely involved in the
industry was the intense financial pressure exerted on thousands
of Irish dairy farm families, and those who work within
the processing sector, as the downturn took full effect and
employment and financial security were widely compromised.
In an environment of such uncertainty, Irish consumer
behaviour was profoundly influenced by a perceived need
to curb expenditure and outgoings. In the dairy cabinet, this
found expression in an increased propensity towards private
label, discounter and imported dairy products, with branded
and value-added products most frequently losing out as a
result. One significant positive not to be overlooked, as the
Chairman has pointed out in his statement, was that overall
dairy consumption was not adversely affected. This was helped
by consumers swapping ‘dining out’ for ‘dining in’ experiences.
In general though, volume sales were maintained through heavy
discounting and promotional activity, none of which is ideal in
the long term for a sustainable and progressive dairy industry.
However, to see the narrative of 2009 purely in terms of
challenges would be to ignore a very significant element of
the story. This was also a year when the Irish dairy industry
showed tremendous resilience and self-reliance; a year when,
with considerable vigour, it confirmed its enduring significance
to the Irish economy. As an organisation funded directly by
the dairying community, the National Dairy Council (NDC),
was proud to be at the heart of a number of key initiatives and
sought to play the fullest role possible in promoting the values
of the sector to Irish consumers. It was also a year of further
development in its role as an authoritative and respected voice in
health and nutrition issues, with its growing credibility evident
both nationally and internationally.
All NDC activity over 2009 directly reflected the environment
of challenge confronted by our community of stakeholders.
However, underwriting its approach was the Dairy: Food for
Life strategy, which was launched in April 2008 and for which
2009 represented the first full year of activity. The continuing
value and validity of this strategy document, against a backdrop
of unprecedented challenge, must be seen as testament to its
inherent coherence and robustness. As much as 2009 was a year
of new initiatives, therefore, it was also a year of continuity
and capacity building through the six key channels of service
delivery set out in Dairy: Food for Life:
• Marketing & Promotion Programme
• Advocacy & Communications Programme
• School Milk & Dairy Programme
• Issues Management & Nutrition Programmes
• Accountability & Corporate Governance
This concerted programme-focused approach facilitated the
NDC in communicating to a range of audiences that included
consumers, healthcare professionals, media, school-going
children and the dairying community. As Chief Executive, I am
happy to report that progress was significant on all fronts, with
the targets set out in Dairy: Food for Life met and, in many cases,
surpassed.
Marketing & Promotion
While the issue of value was a prevalent consumer concern over
the entire year, as 2009 progressed, a notable shift in attitudes
could be discerned, with greater emphasis returning to the area
of food provenance. The NDC was heartened by the findings
of a Food Safety Authority of Ireland survey on food labelling
in December 2009, which showed that ‘nearly three quarters
(74%) of consumers thought that it should be compulsory for an
indication of origin to be given for all foods’.
A public increasingly receptive to such concerns was, then,
the backdrop against which the NDC undertook what was its
highest profile activity in 2009 – the launch of the ‘Farmed in
the Republic of Ireland’ trade mark in November. Developed
following a period of extensive consultation with all our
member dairies, the trademark was not only important from a
dairy perspective but also, arguably, one of the most significant
media campaigns run on behalf of any sector of the Irish food
industry over the course of the year. Through a concerted
cross-platform media campaign, the ‘Farmed in the Republic of
Ireland’ trade mark was effectively communicated as an easy-tounderstand
and trustworthy indicator of dairy origin to a wide
National Dairy Council Annual Report 2009
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