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The AgNav project will develop a toolkit of tailored farm sustainability support and solutions for Irish farmers.
Walton Institute is proud to announce that Kieran Sullivan has been named as one of the successful awardees under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) 2023 Thematic Research Call.
Minister Martin Heydon TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for Research and Development at DAFM, recently announced funding of €22.3 million for 21 research projects rising from the funding call which aims to support pioneering research in areas such as climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and water quality, sustainable farming, animal health and welfare, social sustainability, the bioeconomy, agri-digitalisation, and safe, healthy sustainable food.
The funding secured by Kieran Sullivan will support Walton Institute’s work as part of the AgNav project. This collaborative effort led by Teagasc including Bord Bia and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) is focused on creating a farmer-centric sustainability support framework.
AgNav aims to encourage and support farmers to implement climate action and sustainability improvement on Irish farms; leverage the most robust inter-agency data, research and resources to drive the most appropriate actions tailored to individual farms; enable the most precise capture and analysis of data allowing accurate calculation of action impact; provide a mechanism to support the quantification of progress towards Climate Action Plan targets for the agri sector; and support clear communications on positive progress achieved at farm level, ultimately giving control to farmers.
Kieran Sullivan explains: “AgNav represents an opportunity for Irish farmers to take control of their data and get a true measure of the environmental benefits and costs of their land use and farm practices. Our understanding of concepts like carbon footprint and carbon sequestration is evolving, as are the methodologies to estimate them, so projects like AgNav are critical for policies around agri-food production.”
Led by Dr Indrakshi Dey, Head of the Programmable Autonomous Systems Division, Walton Institute will receive €225,723 for its work to develop a disruptive framework for data analysis, interoperability and resilient data spaces to help the agricultural sector meet its climate targets as part of the AgNav project. “Empowering farmers with resilient data platforms and analytical frameworks, we’re paving the way for sustainable agriculture—putting control back into the hands of those who know the land best,” added Dr Indrkashi.
The project team, which also includes Walton Institute’s Christine O’Meara, will develop a toolkit of tailored farm sustainability support and solutions for Irish farmers which will all be housed in one consolidated online platform.
AgNav was trialled with a number of Teagasc advisors and Signpost demonstration farms in March 2023 through full-day workshops and further piloted over the past year through regional workshops. It is targeted that 10,000 farmers will be utilising the platform each year going forward.
You can learn more about the AgNav project here.