Ireland’s green is gold

That's the message from KPMG global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot, just home from a visit to Ireland.

Origen Green is described as a 'verifiable commitment to sustainability all along the supply chain' and is run by Bord Bia – the Irish Food board.

Origen Green involves farmers, processors and suppliers and is aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture and protecting natural resources. It is also independently verified.

"Origen Green is brilliant in concept and the way they are doing it," Proudfoot told Rural News. "They've been building it in a systematic way for 10 years and they are in front of everyone else in the world.

"It's not just about the environment, although that is an important part of it. It's also doing the right thing in... employment practices and animal welfare, and anything where the customer could challenge the efficacy of a product. It's highly connected to consumers and everything they do is driven by the needs of consumers."

Proudfoot says farms are audited and they get practical feedback on how they can improve. Farmers must also produce a five year plan including specific milestones.

"It's to lift the whole game and do the right thing," he explains. "We in NZ have to learn quickly about what the Irish are doing, because they are a competitor of ours and they've got something we have nothing close to.

"We don't articulate where we want our industry to go in such clear terms as the Irish have done through Origen Green."

Proudfoot concedes that while Ireland is ahead of NZ on this front, we should try to learn from what they have done and do it faster and better. He believes a lack of overall leadership in the primary sector is a problem for NZ.