Agri-Food Strategy Board Term of Appointment Extended

1. The Agri-Food Strategy Board was established jointly in May 2012 by the then Northern Ireland Executive Ministers for Agriculture and Rural Development and Enterprise, Trade and Investment. It's role was to develop a strategic action plan to help accelerate the growth of the agri-food industry. The Board’s tenure was due to end on 19 February 2017, however, the then Ministers extended that term until 31 May 2017. 

2. A further extension has been made until 31 August 2017 to allow further progress to be made on outstanding issues, including the development of a livestock genetics hub and a strategic marketing organisation.

3. The extensions have been made in accordance with the principles of the CPANI Code of Practice. The extensions are based on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments NI requires the political activity of appointees to be published. None of the appointees carried out any political activity in the past five years.  Full biographies can be found on the AFSB website: http://www.agrifoodstrategyboard.org.uk/members

4. Going for Growth, a long term strategic action plan for the NI agri-food sector, was published in May 2013. The NI Executive Response was published in October 2014 and Delivering Growth, which sets out progress made since May 2013, was published in March 2016. Copies of these documents and progress updates are available on the AFSB Website: http://www.agrifoodstrategyboard.org.uk/publications