The EPA has announced €12.2m in funding for 52 environmental science projects. The research will cover topics including climate change, water management, antibiotic resistance and plastics use. There are 11 projects are focused on farming.

The Teagasc-led programme Evaluating Land-Use and Land Management Impacts on Soil organic Carbon in Irish Agricultural Systems has received €200,000 in addition to its €600,000 existing funding from the Department of Agriculture. It will quantify the carbon stored in grassland and look at ways of controlling it. This "will assist the sector both in terms of carbon credits and a reduced carbon footprint on agricultural produce", according to the project's description.

Projects

The EPA also allocated funds to scientists investigating various aspects of the emissions and removals of greenhouse gases on farmland at UCD, Trinity College and NUI Galway.

One project at University College Cork is funded to identify "multifactorial causes of fodder crises in Ireland and risks due to climate change". UCC will also receive funding to look into the use of biomethane as a transport fuel.

On water quality, Teagasc has received support to study run-off from farm roadways and the reduction of nutrient loss from that source.

A project by Dublin Institute of Technology will design models of ammonia pollution from arable land.

Three studies on pollinators and bees at NUI Galway and Athone Institute of Technology will also receive support.

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