IOA AGM and conference 2015

The IOA AGM and Conference was held Tuesday 24th February in the Tullamore Court Hotel. At the AGM Thomas O Connor IOA Chairperson, was delighted to welcome Birgitta Curtin, Trevor Harris and Michael Keane onto the Board. Gillian Westbrook, IOA General Manager thanked outgoing members John Paul Crowe and Breege O Brien for their dedication and hard work over the past three years.

The Conference followed in the afternoon and speakers Tarik Laher, Richard Hackett and Kilian Duignan all gave excellent presentations focusing on Organic market sales, potential to produce more crops in Ireland and distribution of artisan food products respectively. The presentations were extremely useful for audience members who comprised of primary producers, processors and retailers.

Two break-out sessions followed, the first on GLAS and the Organic Farming Scheme, and the second on Marketing organic food. Lively discussions were a feature of both sessions with lots of audience participation. IOA would like to thank all people who came to the event and helped make it an enjoyable day out for all.