merrion street

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney today opened the Grant Thornton Conference "Food 4.0: The Dynamics of Supply and Demand". In his address the Minister said that:

...the challenges of the last few years have seen Irish food companies bring new approaches to understanding their strengths, identifying new business opportunities and managing costs. This is particularly difficult when world prices are volatile putting pressure right along the food supply chain in many countries and markets.

The Minister stated that

“This Conference is timely. There is an ever increasing recognition of the critical role of research and innovation, when inspired by insight into market and consumer needs, in meeting the big societal challenges of the 21st century. A growing world population, more people living in cities, pressures on natural resources as people seek a better standard of living and higher expectations present particular challenges in the area of food security”.