Donegal recently welcomed European delegates and guest speakers to a unique food conference in Letterkenny. Hosted by Local Enterprise Office, Donegal County Council, the conference marked the launch of NICHE, a European project which aims to develop innovation in the food industry in seven European regions where food has been identified as key for jobs and economic growth. The conference included a series of key talks as well as workshops and Q&A sessions. The next stage of the NICHE project will be to assess the current level of innovation among food businesses in each of the project partner regions, including Donegal. Following this, the project will aim to facilitate collaboration among the project partners to further develop the level of innovation in the food sector in these regions.
The important output of project partners meeting were site visits:
The first site visit was to Department of Agriculture’s Potato Propagation Centre. The Centre produce Pre-Basic potato seed (minitubers) and do laboratory testing for local farmers and producers. David Cummins from the Department of Agriculture did a presentation for the visitors and talked about:
• Value for Cultivation and Use Test
• Distinct, Uniform, Stable Test
• Virus diagnostic and cleansing service
• Database of Potato varieties and characteristics
• The centre is one of four Good Practice sites
• How your work contributes to the industry and changing demand in the market
For more information visit the following link: www.agriculture.gov.ie
The second site visit was to Island Seafoods Limited, a family run businesses located in the Donegal fishing village Killybegs. Island Seafoods originally supplied pelagic fish into the secondary processing market, but since 2008 it has been supplying a range of smoked mackerel, herring, salmon, whiting and trout products to the retail sector under the brand “Atlantic Treasures. The company continues to develop value added seafood products and works closely with the Letterkenny Institute of Technology and the Irish Sea Fisheries Board (BIM Bord Iascaigh Mhara) to test and develop new products.
Island Seafoods Ltd. has a history of improving efficiencies at their plant and reducing their energy and water requirements. In 2007 the company commissioned a hydroelectric power plant that generates 700MW of electricity each year (~ 60% of the factory’s annual consumption, 350 tonne carbon emissions offset yearly).
For more information on Island Seafoods Ltd. visit their website www.islandseafoodsltd.ie
