‘Be Agri Aware and celebrate Irish agriculture!’

Agri Aware celebrates Irish agriculture at Family Farm, developed by Agri Aware and Dublin Zoo

Agri Aware, the independent Irish agri-food educational body, is celebrating Irish agriculture and communicating the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy in delivering quality, safe and traceable food at an affordable price, whilst caring for the waterways, landscape and the environment. On Sunday (28 June) Agri Aware and it’s patrons engaged with thousands of visitors to Family Farm, developed by Agri Aware and Dublin Zoo.

Guests were given tours of the farmyard by Agri Aware’s young farmers. They were also given demonstrations of butter churning, sheep shearing, bee-keeping, spinning and weaving, as well as nutritional talks by the National Dairy Council. They had a chance to watch Laura the Family Farm dairy cow being milked and to sample quality Irish food.

The purpose of ‘Be Agri Aware and celebrate Irish agriculture! Day’ was to promote the Irish farming and agri-food industries to the general public in Ireland and Northern Ireland and to deliver an awareness of the importance of the CAP after 2013 to farmers and the general public, engaging members of the agri-food industry, including Agri Aware’s patrons.

The event was part of Agri Aware’s ‘Be Agri Aware-Put your thinking CAP on’ CAP after 2013 awareness and communication campaign. The campaign, entitled ‘Be Agri Aware – Put your thinking CAP on!’, is to be delivered by Agri Aware, the independent Irish agri-food educational body. It aims to communicate the many benefits of the CAP after 2013 to the general public and farmers, across Ireland and Northern Ireland. The message to this audience is that CAP delivers safe, quality and traceable food that is affordable for consumers, in addition to the highest animal welfare and environmental standards and clean rivers and lakes. It also ensures the sustainable management of our natural resources and the development of our rural areas.

‘Be Agri Aware – Put your thinking CAP on!’ will encompass a year-long programme of communication initiatives and events, including advertisements in cinemas and on national television, billboards and radio and newspaper adverts, among others.

A key element of the campaign will be Agri Aware’s ‘Meet the Farmer in the City’ at Family Farm, developed by Agri Aware and Dublin Zoo, which has over 1 million annual visitors. Agri Aware’s farmers will be the resident farmers in Family Farm, during weekends in June, July and August. These farmers will represent a number of different sectors within the farming community and they will speak to the visiting public about farming, the importance of the agri-food industry and CAP during tours of Family Farm. Agri Aware has also recruited two young farmers to work in Family Farm at Dublin Zoo over the peak summer months, to interact with visitors and organise engaging activities to communicate the CAP after 2013.

The innovative and original educational, information and communication campaign is co-financed by the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development and was awarded to Agri Aware following a competitive bidding process. The campaign is also supported by the IFA and FBD, in addition to Agri Aware's other patrons.

Agri Aware's Chairman, Richard Moeran said “This week marks the launch of Agri Aware’s new CAP communication campaign, ‘Be Agri Aware, put your thinking CAP on!’. Beginning this month, and continuing on through to April of 2016, Agri Aware will communicate the many benefits of the reformed CAP to both the general public and farmers, across the island of Ireland. Our message will be crystal clear, CAP delivers safe, quality and traceable food that is affordable to the consumer.”

Chief Executive of Agri Aware, Dr. Vanessa Woods said: “Agri Aware is communicating the CAP after 2013 to urban and rural people of all ages, across Ireland until next April. The campaign encompasses numerous novel methods of communication to engage everyone in CAP. We will communicate this complex policy in a simple, effective and engaging way. This summer, the public should watch out for Agri Aware’s TV and cinema advertisements, as well as our novel and eye-catching billboards in major cities across Ireland and Northern Ireland. We are really delighted to win this significant bid for Agri Aware for the third consecutive year and I look forward to delivering a memorable CAP communication campaign with the European Commission and our patrons. Further details on CAP after 2013 are available on the Agri Aware website (www.agriaware.ie/cap).”