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Smart Farming – Riverside Management from the ASSAP Programme

This year’s Smart Farming Farm Talk has moved online.

The Smart Farming programme focuses on ways to reduce costs inside the farm gate and protect the environment through better resource management in eight key areas: feed, grassland, water, inputs, time management, soil fertility, machinery management and energy use.

Smart Farming is led by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) in partnership with the EPA and brings together the knowledge of Teagasc, the Fertilizer Association of Ireland, the EPA, University College Dublin and others. Smart Farming is communicating this knowledge in a targeted way to improve farm incomes whilst also protecting the environment

Speakers this year include:

Tim Cullinan, President, IFA
Mary Frances Rochford, Programme Manager, Climate Change and Circular Economy, Environmental Protection Agency
Tommy Boland from UCD, demonstrating work that is taking place on multispecies swards on the Devenish lands at Dowth
Mark Plunkett from Teagasc showing us the benefits of Low Emission Slurry Spreading in Moorepark
Ailbhe Douglas from LAWPRO and Peter Comer from Teagasc presenting some of the work that is happening in the ASSAP programme along water courses in Mayo
Donal Sheehan showing us how he manages his dairy farm in Cork for biodiversity gains through the work of the Bride Project

Farming for water quality

We’ve included one video below as it has a particular focus on water quality and looks at the work of the LA Waters Programme (LAWPRO) and Teagasc’s Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice service (ASSAP).

All other videos are available on www.smartfarming.ie

Riverside Management from the ASSAP Programme with
Ailbhe Douglas, Catchment Scientist Western Region LAWPRO and Peter Comer, Agricultural Sustainability & Support Adviser Teagasc.

Learn more:

www.smartfarming.ie

www.teagasc.ie/environment/water-quality/farming-for-water-quality-assap/

About author

EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.