Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 July 2018
569. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which the Dairy Sustainability Ireland initiative will work with the sustainability support and advisory programme; the number of advisers employed in the Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme; and the allocated budget for each year of the programme. [32150/18]
View answerThe Dairy Sustainability Ireland (DSI) initiative will complement the work undertaken in the sustainability support and advisory programme.
As part of the DSI initiative, a pilot programme comprising of six of the biggest dairy processors – Aurivo, Carbery, Dairygold, Glanbia, Kerry and Lakeland has been launched.
The programme involves 180 of their milk suppliers, who are following the initiative’s advice on targeted fertiliser application and water course protection.
The Agricultural Support & Advisory Programme (ASSAP) is an innovative Government/ industry collaborative initiative which will run from 2018 -2021. It is a new approach to achieving improvements in water quality and wider sustainability by providing free agricultural sustainability advice from dedicated sustainability advisors to farmers operating in 190 selected ‘Areas for Action’. This four year programme supports the goals of the Food Wise 2025 strategy, facilitating increased productivity hand-in-hand with a more sustainable sector.
The sustainability and efficiency gains will be achieved through three main areas of focus on farm, namely improved nutrient management with more targeted use of slurry and fertiliser, better farmyard management practice and new approaches to land management to reduce nutrient losses in critical source areas.
The ASSAP involves a resource of 30 Agricultural Sustainability Advisors. 20 Advisors are being jointly funded by my Department and the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Govt (DHPLG). The Government funded advisors are being managed by Teagasc’s environmental unit. A further 10 Advisors are being funded by the Dairy Industry, working within the Dairy Processing structures. All Advisors will receive comprehensive training to ensure a unified and consistent approach under the new programme.
Projected expenditure details for the 20 Sustainability Advisers and 3 Overhead Personnel, being financed by my Department and DHPLG, are as follows:
|
|
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|
Total Annual Cost € |
816,944 |
1,686,207 |
1,741,284 |
1,868,844 |
