By Business & Finance 
Ireland’s leading dairy ingredients company, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII), has welcomed ambitious targets for growth set out in a new agri food strategy for Ireland – Food Wise 2025.
The new 10 year strategy, developed for Government by an advisory body comprised of senior agri food stakeholders, sets out targets to significantly and sustainably increase the value of agri food exports and primary production. Building on the progress achieved under Food Harvest 2020, the strategy details 350 recommendations for Government in what is Ireland’s most valuable indigenous sector.
Following the removal of EU milk quotas earlier this year – GII’s 4,800 milk suppliers are aiming to increase milk production by 63% by 2020. GII currently processes 1.6 billion litres of milk or 30% of Ireland’s milk pool into a range of dairy ingredients for export to more than 50 countries. The company recently completed a €235 million infrastructure investment programme, which culminated in the development of a high-spec nutritional ingredients facility at Belview in Co Kilkenny, which is operating exclusively for the export market.
CEO Jim Bergin said GII’s ambitious plans for global growth across the areas of infant and clinical nutrition, health and wellness, and butter and cheese, are founded on a model that has sustainability at its core, and he welcomed the clear signal from Government that the sector will continue to be supported to grow in a way that is sustainable – economically, socially and environmentally.
“Glanbia Ingredients Ireland has a proven track record of prioritising energy and environmental management. We believe that this makes economic and environmental sense and, importantly, it also sends a clear signal to our customers that we are committed to sustainable indigenous food production. We export 85% of what we produce to recognised brands around the world. Our sustainably-focused business model helps to support our customer’s goals in reducing the overall carbon footprint of their brands, and this is a very important differentiator in the market place.
“We welcome the Government’s recognition of the agri food sector as Ireland’s most valuable indigenous industry and we will continue to work with them to promote growth in a way that is sustainable into the future,” he said.
