Private agricultural advisers will need financial support to support regional services, new technologies and research data, a new report by the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) has found.

‘Recalibrating Advisory Services for a New Era in Irish Farming’, undertaken by economist Jim Power, said that Teagasc receives an estimated €27m in state funding each year for its adviser services for 43,000 farmers while the ACA, with 55,000 farmer clients, receives no funding.

Private consultants should be given free access to all publicly funded research data that Teagasc receives, Power said.

We need to find a way to bring these farmers on board

He also said technology such as online nutrient management and profit monitor systems should be provided free to all advisers.

Power found that there are gaps in the advisory service that Teagasc provides, as a result of exchequer funding restrictions and the closure of offices in remote areas.

Figures also show that in the region of 30% of farmers do not avail of any farm advisory service, which general secretary of the ACA Breian Carroll said is a challenge.

“We need to find a way to bring these farmers on board,” he said.

Farm viability

If farming is to remain viable, the economist said that it will have to comply with the Bord Bia definition of food sustainability – that the production of safe food within a viable industry has to protect and enhance the natural environment and quality of life.

To meet this, farmers will need to have the highest level of skills and knowledge possible and be at the cutting edge of science, Power said.

Carroll told the Irish Farmers Journal that the ACA wants “collaboration between all the state agencies, to get all of the knowledge and research from not only Teagasc, the EPA and other Government agencies to our 55,000 farmers”.

He said: “It’s not a very structured and clear collaboration at the minute.”

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