Engineering change in a dynamic global food market

摘要

Agri-Food has long been the largest industry in Northern Ireland. Over 20,000 people are directly employed, manufacturing a wide range of quality products which in 1999 had a value of pound 2.5 bn, 50 percnet of which was exported to discerning customers across the world. A further 20,000 people are employed in the retail, wholesale and food service sectors while approximately 55,000 people on farms are involved in the production of the quality food raw materials. In regional terms, this is an industry vital to the economy; in global terms however, a very small industry indeed!