Teagasc is reviewing the delivery of its advisory programme, the agriculture and food development authority has confirmed.
“New ideas” for service delivery are being explored, however, consultation with staff, the Teagasc Authority, and stakeholders is ongoing.
The piloting of these “new ideas”, initially in some advisory regions, is likely to take place in 2024, Teagasc confirmed to Agriland.
Teagasc said that the piloting will be an important part of the implementation, but specific regions for pilots have yet to be decided.
Teagasc
Meanwhile, Teagasc director, Prof. Frank O’Mara has said he expects to see carbon farming “in some shape or form” introduced in the next few years.
Prof. O’Mara was speaking at the Cavan Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) annual general meeting (AGM) which took place last week.
He had come on to the subject when he was explaining why carbon was included as a weighting in the updated Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) Euro Star beef breeding index.
The new evaluations for the indices have caused a significant level of frustration amongst many members of beef breed societies.
Explaining why carbon was introduced into the index and noting that farmers are not currently paid for carbon, he said:
“The indices and breeding is a long-term game. You’re not selecting bulls or replacement stock for next year’s crop, you’re selecting for long-term change in your herd.”
Its weighting on the overall index is “starting at a small level, I think it’s 6% or 8% of the index is related to carbon”. It’s also in the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) and the Dairy Beef Index (DBI), he added.