Farmers and businesses from across the agri-industry have gathered at Gurteen College in Co. Tipperary today (Thursday, July 20) for the Energy and Farm Diversification Show.
The event was opened this morning at 9:00p.m with a welcome address by Gurteen College principal Jon Parry, which was followed by a speech from Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue.
In his remarks, the minister said that on-farm energy production and farm diversification can play a role in helping the agriculture sector meet its climate targets, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction.
The minister’s speech was followed by an opening panel discussion to set the tone for the day, moderated by broadcaster, former minister for agriculture, and past Gurteen College student Ivan Yates.
The panel discussion featured Stan Lalor, director of knowledge transfer at Teagasc; Tim Cullinan, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA); Mark Christal, divisional manager for food and sustainability at Enterprise Ireland; and Prof. Aoife Foley, professor at the University of Manchester and Queen’s University Belfast (and board member of the Environmental Protection Agency, although she was not speaking in that capacity).
This panel covered a wide range of topics that are set to come up throughout the day, and the challenges and opportunities in implementing on-farm changes in renewable energy and other forms of diversification.
This panel will be followed throughout the day by several other panel discussions happening concurrently at various locations around the college campus up to about 5:30p.m this evening.
Three pavilions have been erected at Gurteen College, each devoted to a different area or sector.
These pavilions are:
- Energy pavilion, covering anerobic digestion (AD), energy policy, solar, electricity, biomass, and community energy;
- Farm diversification pavilion, covering food business start-ups and tourism diversification;
- Land use change and sustainability pavilion, covering organics, forestry, bio-economy, and agri-tech.
The Energy and Farm Diversification Show will include exhibition halls of suppliers and experts in energy and diversification, who will be able to provide necessary information for those farmers, landowners or businesses that are considering another business venture.
The discussions throughout the day will be grouped into several ‘tracks’.
These tracks are organised as follows:
- Track 1 – energy in agriculture, including biomethane and AD, solar, biomass, and energy communities;
- Track 2 – farm diversification, including agri-tourism, diversification entrepreneurship, artisan food, and alternative diversification;
- Track 3 – smart climate land use, including organics and regenerative farming, and alternative and climate smart land use.
The event will also feature several demonstrations, covering an on-farm anaerobic digester; solar PV installation and energy management; energy crops and biomass; how to maximise organic fertiliser; and a farm diversification demonstration.