The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D., today launched an exhibition and a publication highlighting the wide variety of projects being undertaken under his Department’s EIP/locally-led schemes in Ireland. DAFM is now investing €59m in 23 of these new types of schemes. The launch took place in Agriculture House, Kildare Street, Dublin and is designed to showcase the innovation being undertaken in the 23 selected schemes across the country.

 

Speaking at the launch, Minister Creed said: “We are committed to building a sustainable agricultural system that respects the environment. The agriculture sector is determined to play its part in responding to the challenges before us on climate, water quality and biodiversity.  We are investing €59m in these locally-led schemes to achieve these goals at a local level by stimulating and developing innovative new approaches to tackling environmental challenges in a targeted way. This targeted approach to specific challenges in specific areas can complement our larger national agri-environmental schemes”.

 

The exhibition highlights the varied works undertaken by the EIP Project groups including projects on biodiversity, organic production, pollinators, water quality, flood management, soils, farming in an archaeological landscape and targeting unutilised agricultural biomass.

 

The exhibition is open to the public to visit before going nationwide to other DAFM offices for display there. Following its display in Dublin, the exhibition will be moving to the Department’s office in Johnstown Castle Estate in Wexford.

 

Concluding the Minister said: “The benefits of locally-led schemes are obvious and it starts at the design stage. This is when farmers, researchers, scientists and advisors come together in Operational Groups to address a specific local environmental issue. The final 23 selected projects are of the highest quality and came through a rigorous selection process. Now that they are up and running, we want to bring their innovation to a wider audience. There is no doubt that lessons learned here will have wider application, not least in the design of the next CAP”. 

 

Note for Editors

 

The European Innovation Partnerships Initiative (EIP) under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP) is a new co-operation measure under Article 35(1) of the regulation. These locally led schemes promote local solutions to specific issues and involve the establishment of Operational Groups to develop ideas, or take existing ideas/research and put them into practice by being hands on in terms of working towards the resolution of a practical problem.   

 

The EIP-AGRI booklet was designed by Dr Shane Conway, Dr Maura Farrell and Dr Aisling Murtagh from NUI Galway, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the National Rural Network

 

Call 1 of the EIP competitive process started in December 2016 with an initial open call for ideas and an invitation to submit proposals. Call 2 under this initiative issued in August 2017. Following assessment of these proposals, 21 projects were selected.

 

In addition, there are two major projects under the EIP initiative for the conservation of endangered species – the €10m Hen Harrier scheme and the €25m Pearl Mussel.

 

Information on the European Innovation Partnership initiative can be accessed on the Department website or by contacting eip@agriculture.gov.ie

 

A link to the publication launched today can be found here

 

The full list of the 23 EIPs are:

Hen Harrier Project

Pearl Mussel Project

Allow Project – Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments

Biodiversity Regeneration in a Dairying Environment (BRIDE)

Biomass to Biochar for Farm Bioeconomy (BBFB)

Biorefinery Glas

Blackstairs Farming Futures

Caomhnú Arann

Cúlra Créafóige – Cultivation Renewal Programme

DANÚ Farming Group

Enable Conservation Tillage (ECT)

Farming Rathcroghan Project

Inishowen Upland Farmers Project

Maximising Organic Production Systems (MOPS)

Mulkear EIP

North Connemara Locally Led Agri-Environmental Scheme

Ovi Data

Protecting Farmland Pollinators

Small Biogas Demonstration Programme

Sustainable Agricultural Plan for the MacGillycuddy Reeks

Sustainable Uplands Agri-Environmental Scheme (SUAS)

The Conservation of Breeding Curlew in Ireland

The Duncannon Blue Flag Farming and Communities Scheme

ENDS

Date Released: 17 April 2019