The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Edwin Poots said: “As I have previously said, Northern Ireland is already renowned for its high-quality, tasty, welfare-focussed, award-winning and environmentally sustainable food. We punch well above our weight on the world stage and our food ends up on plates all across the globe.

“It’s now time to focus our efforts on taking such a fantastic product and ensuring we maximise its benefits for our local health, economy, environment and for the generations to come.

“So by working together, we can transform our food system into one that protects natural resources for future generations, is economically and environmentally sustainable and provides safe, nourishing, accessible food to people, who make informed healthy choices.”

The consultation can be found on the DAERA website at: www.daera-ni.gov.uk/consultations/northern-ireland-food-strategy-framework.

The Framework focuses on six strategic priorities and will be a living document that is dynamic and responsive to changing circumstances. The six strategic priorities include:

• • Building connections between health /wellbeing and food;
  • Building Sustainable Economic Prosperity;
  • Building a Food Culture and Food Conscious Society; Protecting and Enhancing our Natural Resources; Building Healthy Lives through Food Education; and
  • Building and maintaining appropriate Emergency Contingency plans across the supply chain.

“There are only two weeks to the closing date of the consultation (Friday 19 November). I encourage you to share your views on the proposals for a new strategic food systems approach, and on the proposed vision, principles and goals of the NI Food Strategy Framework,” the minister said.

The post Two weeks left to have your say on Northern Ireland Food Strategy Framework first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Visitors to the Asda stand at this year’s Balmoral Show were among the first to meet author Dr Vanessa Woods and receive their own signed copy of ‘Northern Ireland: Our Food, Our Story’.

The fully illustrated book uses poetry to explain otherwise complex topics such as sustainability, traceability, food nutrition, and biodiversity, in an age-appropriate way.

Asda is supporting the regional launch of the book and is supplying copies to every primary school in Northern Ireland..

Asda NI senior manager Joe McDonald said: “What better platform to engage with young consumers and help them understand NI’s unique food and farming offering than the Balmoral Show?

“We were delighted to welcome Vanessa to our stand and ensure as many of our young visitors as possible went home with this great educational resource.  

“With hundreds of Asda’s top quality, locally sourced products also being sampled on our stand, it was the ideal way to connect and communicate the farm to fork message to our future generations.”

The post Asda Backs Kids Book Unveiling The Science Behind Farming first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Mark’s potatoes earned him top marks on BBC2’s Great British Menu. Now he has teamed up with the Northern Ireland-based ‘Mighty Spud’ campaign to tackle public misconceptions surrounding the vegetable.

The campaign was launched in a bid to tackle the potato’s ebbing popularity in the last decade. However, the last three years have witnessed an increase in sales as the potato battles back against competitor carbohydrates.

Mark, who is head chef in the two Michelin-starred Midsummer House in Cambridge, was in Deane’s Eipic on Monday treating guests to his selection of potato-based dishes, created using only the finest locally-sourced crops.

Speaking at the showcase, Mark, who comes originally from Antrim, said, “I grew up in a very traditional family and farming is in our blood. Up until I discovered a love for cooking, farming was all I knew and all I what I wanted to do! Whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner, potatoes were on the menu in our house, but what many people don’t realise is, every variety of potato has its uses and I am proud that I was able to showcase this during my time on Great British Menu.”

Figures released last year by the Agriculture and Horticulture Board reveal that the number of potatoes sold in the UK has increased by 1.4 per cent in the last year. Deputy president of the Farmers’ Union, Ivor Ferguson, believes this indicates the re-emergence of the potato as the UK’s favoured dinnertime vegetable.

He said on Monday, “Recent figures can offer reassurance on purchasing habits and it’s really encouraging to see that after three years of hard work, we have started to see negative trends reversed.”

Our picture above shows Mark hard at work in the kitchen’s at Michelin-starred Eipic in Belfast.

The post Star chef cultivates potato’s profile first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.