DAFM launches new online platform for farmers
The Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) has today (Tuesday, September 16) launched a new platform designed to make it easier to access, understand and use DAFM's online services.
The platform was officially released at the National Ploughing Championships by Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Martin Heydon.
Replacing agfood.ie, MyAgFood.ie is the new online platform through which farmers can receive important updates from the department and apply for schemes in one place.
Launching the new platform, Minister Heydon said: "MyAgFood.ie is more than just a new platform.
"It forms a key part of my department’s strategy to improve its online customer services, making them more accessible and efficient.
"This new platform has been designed based on extensive consultation with our customers and other stakeholders.
"I understand the high levels of admin work involved for farmers and I hope this new platform will help make managing farm admin work quicker and easier.”
Features on MyAgFood.ie for users include:
- A personalised homepage - Users will receive the information relevant to them and their farm;
- Viewing upcoming animal tests - Users will be able to see all mandatory and private tests for their cattle;
- Receiving an instant overview of animal numbers - Users will be able to access a breakdown of herd by species, category (beef/dairy), age and a date forecasting tool to assist them in checking the age groups of their animals at a specified future date;
- Viewing projected nitrates figures on their farm - This will assist farmers in taking action to reduce levels, if required.
Minister Heydon added: “What you see today is just the beginning of MyAgFood.ie.
"We will continue to add new services and features based on feedback from users.
"This launch is Phase 1, and my department is committed to an ongoing journey of improvements based on feedback.”
The existing online platform, agfood.ie, will remain available for a limited period to facilitate the transition to MyAgFood.ie.
Agriland spoke to DAFM's principal officer of schemes, land, and digital services, Nicola Roche at the official launch to find out why the department decided to rebrand the platform.
She said: "agfood.ie has been around 15 or 20 years and has been very functional but, following on from the government policy of better digital services, we're trying to be more user-friendly.
"In the department, we have quite a large volume of data and we felt it could be presented better to the farmer, making things easier."
The new website will feature a new two-factor authentication, which will involve inputting a designated phone number to receive a one-time code via text message which farmers and advisors will then have to input to access the website.
When asked about the nitrates calculator on the platform, Roche stated that DAFM will not have access to any data that farmers input into the calculator, and that it is simply a tool provided to help assess their nitrates levels.
