The European Living Lab project, entitled ‘Soilcrates` is about to kick off with a call for farmers across Ireland's mid-west who are keen to learn more about the initiative.

The project involves the Loop Head peninsula and the communities of Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary and Ballyhoura in the south-west of Ireland, in conjunction with Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).

There are two levels of participation. All farmers, or anyone with an interest in soil health across the mid-west region, may follow the project and attend events and workshops.

Farmers who would like to participate more actively, by becoming a ‘Living Lab Farm’, will be asked to highlight the challenges they are experiencing, and provide a piece of land for the duration of the project to explore sustainable practices to address the issues they are experiencing on their land.

Following on from Loop Head’s success with the Hemp4Soil project, for which it won a national climate action award in 2023 and was also named as Clare County Council's nominated decarbonising zone, the Loop Head peninsula is now a part of this new project.

The Living Lab project - Soilcrates - is part of the EU mission, 'A soil deal for Europe', involves clusters of farmers from the three communities and beyond, who come together alongside academic partners to help develop, test, and explore farming practices to improve soil health, in real-life farm environments.

With soil health in sharp focus at department level, impacting basic payments, fertiliser rates, stocking calculations, organic matter levels, slurry storage, and nitrate action, there is a pressing need to find solutions that are both environmentally sustainable and economically viable, according to Loop Head Together CLG.

The Living Lab’s main initiatives include addressing these soil health issues, such as nitrogen overuse and poor drainage, and introducing innovative practices like biochar application, intercropping with nitrogen-fixing plants, and community-oriented events.

The lab is structured to support knowledge exchange across multiple counties, fostering a collaborative network of stakeholders that promotes resilient agricultural systems in the mid-west region.

Participation in the project is open to all interested farmers in the broader mid-west region. The Irish ‘Living Lab’ farms will feed into several European living labs, based in the Netherlands, France and Spain, creating an even wider knowledge sharing pool, with real life findings and outcomes.

The overall aim of the project is to be farmer led, driven by the needs of the farmers, taking on board their challenges as well as their knowledge and expertise, and contributing to more resilient and biodiverse farms all round.

“All efforts towards exploring sustainable soil management don't just improve soil health for participating farms, but for everyone,” principal investigator/research fellow with TUS, Lena Madden said.

“We are delighted to be facilitating the roll out of this exciting project on the Loop Head peninsula and beyond,” director and chairperson on the board of Loop Head Together CLG, Margaret Cotter, said.

"To be working alongside our friends in Cloughjordan and Ballyhoura, in an effort to truly explore the most sustainable ways to address the soil challenges that Irish farmers in the mid-west may be experiencing, and to then be in a position to share those outcomes back to wider audiences around Ireland and in Europe, is a wonderful position to be in," Cotter added.

"It will also be very useful for farmers, at all levels of participation, to be able to show the department that their region is making every effort to explore and test sustainable farming practices”.

Loop Head’s Living Lab will be led by TUS and will be facilitated on the ground locally by Loop Head Together CLG and assisted in the technical realm by Wild Atlantic Hemp in Carrigaholt, Co. Clare.

The first event to introduce the project locally on Loop Head will take place at Cross Digital Hub, Cross village, Co. Clare, on Saturday, April 26 at 1:00p.m.