A farmer has spoken about how a Bord Bia audit puts the “fear of God” in him.

Speaking from the floor at the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association’s (ICMSA) AGM, Ronan Feighery said in recent years he has felt uneasy in advance of a Bord Bia audit.

“I buy the message of Bord Bia and I’ve always bought into it.

“Over the last couple of years, I got the feeling that it slipped from, okay, we’re doing this to get the best price for our produce on the world market and we all buy that.

“For some strange reason over the last number of years, it’s felt like, I’ve the fear of God in me with this auditor coming now,” he said.

Response

Bord Bia CEO Jim O’Toole responded at the meeting that the overwhelming majority of the organisation’s auditors are farmers themselves and “it is not good auditing practice to put the fear of God into anybody”.

O’Toole outlined that recent results of a post-audit survey show that 97% of farmers found their auditor courteous and clear in terms of feedback.

“There is a commitment as part of the standard revision process that we will try and make the audit as straight forward and streamlined as possible,” he added.

Other farmers made points about duplication between Bord Bia audits and information required by processors, as well as the system needing to be simplified.

One ICMSA member commented that “in fairness to a lot of the auditors, they’re spot on”.