Teagasc will be hosting their Agri-Environment Conference this Thursday, April 6th 2017. The event is set to take place in Co. Offaly at the Tullamore Court Hotel.

The event begins at 9.30am and is expected to run until approximately 4pm. There will be four sessions taking place as the day goes on.

The first session of the event will be focusing on the topic of sustainability in Ireland. This will include presentations and talks on:

• How to include farmland habitats in sustainability assessments
• Mitigating greenhouse gas and ammonia in Irish agriculture
• How to weigh up Nitrogen fertilizer options (regarding yield, efficiency, costs and greenhouse gases)

Speakers for the first session of the day will include Dr. Johnn Finn, Dr. Gary Lanigan and Dr. Patrick Forrestal, all from Teagasc. Additionally, Joe Crockett, the Chairman of the Dairy Sustainability Working Group will be speaking about the Irish Dairy Industry Association (IDIA) Sustainability Project.

The second session of the day will begin at 11.30am and will focus on GLAS (Green Low Carbon Agri-environmental Scheme).

The topics of this session will include:

• Upland Farming
• Tree and Hedgerow actions
• Grassland actions
• Wild bird cover
• Campaign for responsible rodenticide use

Speakers for this session will include John Lusby of CRRU (Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use) Ireland Taskforce and Birdwatch Ireland. Additionally, Louis Kilcoyne will be speaking from NMP (Nutrient Management Plan) support team and will join four other Teagasc speakers. 

Lunch will be from 1pm to 2pm.

The third session will kick off at 2pm which will be focusing on research updates. This session will involve a few speakers from Teagasc discussing a range of topics of which include:

• Farmer attitudes in relation to participation in agri-environment schemes;
• Environmental sustainability indicators (from The National Farm Survey Sustainability report);
• Use of bio-solids in agriculture;
• Water quality and biodiversity;
• Assessing the risk of Phosphorus transfer in high-status catchments: Integration of nutrient management and soil conditions;
• The sky and the ground: Influence of weather change on soil nutrient loss.

The fourth and final session of the day will take place between 3pm-4pm. This session will focus on water quality.

Dr. Aidan Moody, from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, will discuss MCPA and other pesticide threats to Irish agriculture. Immediately after that, Dr. Jenny Deakin, from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will speak about how water quality can be improved.

To find out more, look at the information leaflet designed by Teagasc – Click Here!