The long-standing AgFood portal for farmers on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine website will be officially discontinued from today (Tuesday, September 1).

The system will be now be fully replaced by the MyAgFood system, which was first launched during last year's National Ploughing Championships.

In a number of social media posts marking the changeover to MyAgFood, the department said: "As we phase out AgFood, we see a new era for farming admin.

"MyAgFood has designed the 'schemes and services' dashboard to be straightforward. Farmers can see application progress, [and] access and find services and schemes they need with just a few clicks," the department added.

It said that MyAgFood is designed to be farmers' "personal control dashboard" for their personal information, and that it puts the farmers in charge of their farms' digital paperwork.

The department has developed a number of videos to help farmers navigate the MyAgFood portal, which can be seen on the department's Facebook and YouTube pages.

MyAgFood

The new platform was officially launched by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon at last year's National Ploughing Championships.

At the time, Minister Heydon said that the new system "forms a key part of my department’s strategy to improve its online customer services, making them more accessible and efficient".

He added that the new platform was designed based on extensive consultation with customers and other stakeholders.

However, MyAgFood did not have the smoothest of starts, with some concerns raised over its accessibility and user-friendliness.

Earlier this year, Minister Heydon said that he was "acutely aware of the difficulties that some farmers have faced due to the recent changes around access" to AgFood and MyAgFood.

He made the comments in response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD for Clare Joe Cooney, who had asked if the minister will consider permitting a second or separate person full access to the MyAgFood portal, alongside that of the herd-keeper.

Deputy Cooney had said that this would "facilitate more effective administration of calf registration, animal movements and the general upkeep of the herd profile".

Minister Heydon had responded to his party colleague by saying: "I do not take these issues lightly".

The minister added that he was "committed to exploring solutions", and that he would ask the department to provide him with "possible solutions for the specific issue that the deputy has raised".

"My department's systems must be secure in protecting our farmers' data and access to their accounts, but it must also be user-friendly and accommodate the realities of Irish farming practices on the ground," Minister Heydon had said.