With over 70,000 local people employed in the agri-food sector in Northern Ireland, Agri-Food Quest Manager, Stephane Durand explains how collaboration and research will shape the future of the food industry.
Stephane began his studies in Paris at the Pierre and Marie Curie University where he completed an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry, before undertaking an MSc in Food Science and Technology. Stephane has been working in the food industry for the last 10 years and is also a member of the safefood Knowledge Network Expert Facilitator Group, where he advises on current and emerging food safety issues. In 2015, Stephane took up the role of Agri-Food Quest Manager at the newly formed Northern Ireland Technology Centre at Queen’s University Belfast.
As part of his role at the Agri-Food Quest Competence Centre, Stephane is responsible for encouraging research projects that focus on key issues facing the food industry. On these issues, he explains: “It could be anything such as shelf-life extension, food safety, security around food supply or looking at ways to add value to products.”
However, the most important part of the entire process isn’t identifying or even informing people about the challenges, it’s finding the resources and finances to support research in these areas. Specifically, a minimum of three member companies have to combine forces with at least one university or research organisation to be considered for funding.
This is where Stephane comes in, as he explains: “I’m the cement between the blocks. I’m not really a researcher, I’m a project coordinator who connects the industry to the right researchers in the areas of interest or expertise.”
While getting this right requires time, it’s often worth the effort. He admits: “It’s exciting to watch the realisation for companies that, by working together, they can solve a big problem that they could not solve on their own. It’s very rewarding to get different areas of industry working together, solving problems and looking at serious barriers like environmental issues and sustainability.”
On the topic of sustainability, Stephane adds: “The reality is we will have to produce more, but within the same amount of land. We need to examine how we do that in a sustainable way. If all the farmers and processors are thinking about this and choose to pool their resources, they will have a much better chance of actually solving those big societal problems.”
A new challenge that the food industry in Northern Ireland (NI) is currently facing is the impact of Brexit. Along with food resources and exports, a ‘harsh Brexit’ could potentially impact on cross-border trading between NI and the Republic of Ireland (ROI) as well as current EU trade agreements.
Stephane explains: “Brexit is really the key of uncertainty – nobody can control it, or how it will affect them. We don’t know what is going to happen, so Brexit is by far the biggest risk in relation to the local food industry.”
On the other hand, Stephane suggests that it could turn out to be beneficial by strengthening the willingness to collaborate across industries and borders: “I think that ROI and NI have been successfully collaborating for decades. I hope this can continue, as we are facing the same issues. The projects we are working on have been really successful because they have been across borders.” While the future remains uncertain now in terms of Brexit, joining forces is the way forward in terms of tackling issues and solving problems within the food industry, giving companies across the island of Ireland plenty of food for thought.
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