Finalists: Agri-Tech
Achonry – Farmer’s Market with click and collect
The GAA club at Achonry, Co Sligo developed a farmer’s market as a way to provide a safe outdoor outlet for community social interaction and to raise funds for community facilities. The project has been a great success, attracting a loyal following from traders, shoppers and neighbours. They made extensive use of social media, their website, and online platforms like TripAdvisor and Google to promote the market. Their Facebook page has WhatsApp integration which allows customers reserve products from a stall – effectively a ‘click and collect’ service. Mobile payments are taken through SumUp. The market provides a vital social outlet and loyal customers volunteer to write blogs about their purchases, which in turn promotes the opportunity for off-farm income generation.
Clonmel – Digital education for farmers
This programme was developed to help farmers use new technologies to make their work easier, save time and money as well as improving the sustainability and profitability of their farm. 60% of farmers report that there are barriers to digital training and supports. This project addresses that problem by providing very practical digital training in areas such as soil fertility technology; grassland management technology; tech for time and labour saving; and farm management systems and useful Apps. This project addresses the digital skills gap amongst farmers and helps them access digital technologies that hold the key for a smarter, more competitive and resource-efficient agricultural sector.
Dingle – Dingle Hub and Agri-tech – an App to monitor energy usage
Farmers on the Dingle Peninsula are looking for ways to secure their future in these challenging times through use of technology, diversification and innovation. There is a network of farmers in the local sustainable energy community, whose objective is to reduce energy usage and identify land management practices that could assist in storing carbon. The installation of energy monitoring via an App resulted in a 3% C02 decrease.
Julianstown – AgriKids farm safe fun App
AgriKids is a leader in farm safety education for children. This social enterprise promotes farm safety messaging through the Farm Safe Fun App and the website which has a range of downloadable classroom materials, story books and clothing accessories with safety features. A virtual reality game allows children travel around a farm and place safety signs at key locations. A multimedia game zone was created which is compatible with classroom whiteboards. To date, 70,000 children have taken part in farm safety webinars and online events addressing the important issue of farm safety in Ireland, where more than 4,500 farm accidents take place each year.
Skibbereen – Farm of the Future – a cluster to support agri-tech start ups
The ambition of this project is to bring together farmers, innovators and agricultural entities to support agri-tech startups. This has created a network or cluster where knowledge is shared for the benefit of all. An agri-tech ideation day was held to explore the use of innovative approaches and technologies to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture.