Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 November 2020
351. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the analysis his Department has carried with regard to regenerative agriculture techniques and their potential in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37479/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am aware that there has been an increased interest in regenerative farming in recent years and the movement is growing internationally.
In 2018, the National Organic Training Skillnet organized the first Biological Farming conference in Ireland. Ireland’s second annual Biological Farming Conference ‘BioFarm’ was held in November 2019. In recent weeks, the third Bio-farm event was addressed by my colleague Minister Hackett.
The event featured speakers on many aspects of innovative agriculture that mitigate climate change, regenerate soil health and carbon cycles, empower farmers and create food security. The motivation for the conference came from the increase in interest and knowledge exchange on biological/regenerative farming practices.
Under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) projects, funded and supported by my Department, we are in the process of researching holistic farming approaches, such as through the Danú Farming Group EIP. The Danú Farming Group aims to educate farmers on biological farming by developing a conventional to biological farming transition programme. The project seeks to achieve over its lifetime of 5+ years to develop the transition programmes on the basis of field trial findings that are practical, affordable and capable of implementation by any interested farmer.
