Two Teagasc researchers have been awarded funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to further their work in the area of generational renewal and pig health.
Economist and senior research officer with the Teagasc Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department, Emma Dillion received funding for the GEN FARMS project under the DAFM’s Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call.
The project explores the interplay between gender, age and their influence on farm sustainability and innovation. One of its key goals is to assess the current involvement of women and younger people in Irish agriculture.
The influence of women and younger people on farm performance, including economic viability, investment and environmental sustainability will also be examined, as well as the role of gender and generational renewal in the uptake of new technologies.
Pig health
Under the same research call, principal research officer and head of the Pig Development Department at Teagasc, Edgar Manzanilla was awarded funding for research on estimating the animal health losses in the Irish pig sector.
This research will use the methodology of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases project, which is a recently launched initiative to establish a consistent framework for estimating the economic impact of animal disease.
The awarded funding is part of a wider announcement by Minister of State at the DAFM with special responsibility for research and development, Martin Heydon to award over €800,000 for six short-term projects.
The projects are focused on emerging policy and the strategic needs of the agri-food, forest and bio-economy sectors. The selected topics also include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water quality, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Meanwhile, Minister Heydon also announced the opening of the 2024 Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call. A total of 27 topics are available for researchers to apply to until the deadline for submissions on Thursday, June 6.