Full coverage: Food

Protesting farmers are right to say that Irish commodity prices should not be lower than elsewhere in the EU. They must now realise the transformation their industry is facing to achieve this.

Ireland is now under EU obligation to designate a regulator for the food trade. Who should police relations between farmers, processors and retailers? How much power should they have? Thomas Hubert meets Christine Tacon, the Groceries Code Adjudicator in the UK – arguably the most advanced country in this area.

The weight of Chinese demand on Ireland’s agri-food exports and the markets they serve comes out stronger than ever in the latest Teagasc outlook – but a no-deal Brexit is by no means out of the way.

The ongoing price crisis in the beef sector has highlighted the need for alternative export markets. Beijing-based Ian Lahiffe warns against the expectation that growing Chinese imports alone will save the day.

Irish food exporters have entered China as commodity suppliers. They could achieve a lot more by engaging with the growing cohort of sophisticated Chinese consumers, writes Beijing-based Ian Lahiffe.

Thursday’s quarterly results failed to reassure investors over the difficulties experienced by the Kilkenny-based group’s performance nutrition business. CEO Siobhán Talbot is asking for more time to solve them; the company’s ownership structure means she’s likely to get it.

DuPont wants to spin out its nutrition and biosciences business. Kerry is said to be in the lead to buy it. The reported price tag is €22.5 billion, which is more than Kerry’s entire enterprise value. Could the deal work?

Many sectors face severe disruption if Brussels and London fail to seal a Brexit agreement in the coming days. One would disappear: milk production and processing in Northern Ireland.

Folllowing up on last week’s annual results announcement, Sean Keyes drills deepers into the Irish-Swiss baking giant’s latest figures.

As the troubled global baking business releases crucial annual results, Sean Keyes and Thomas Hubert assess its chances of emerging from under a mountain of debt.