17 January 2024
Take the first step to improve water quality
Farmers have been urged to partake in the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP), described as being the first step in making water quality improvements on their farms.
Aoife Feeney, Nuffield Ireland Scholar, joined Mark Gibson, Head of Teagasc Outreach and Innovation Department, and Pat Murphy, Head of Environment Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc, on a Signpost Series webinar on January 12th. The discussion centred on ‘Encouraging farmers to prioritise on-farm actions for water quality’.
Aoife’s Nuffield Scholarship encompassed travel to eight countries and examined actions being taken by farmers to improve water quality. As part of her presentation, she noted that the similar challenges in terms of the sustainability and environmental management of agriculture are seen worldwide, before adding that: “Farmers have the ability to lead the change in water quality together”.
Aoife encouraged farmers to take ownership of water quality improvements, adding: “We all know we are facing uncharted territory with our Nitrates Derogation over the next couple of years and I think we just have to take ownership of the problem right now.”
She said that taking part in the ASSAP Programme is the first step, before adding that “implementing the actions is the second step and I know a lot of farmers have and that’s fantastic, but we really need to ramp this up”.
Due to the lag times between making change at farm level and seeing benefits in water quality, Aoife noted that: “The sooner we make the change, the quicker we will see the benefits and we can’t be waiting for policy to change or for money to come in or whatever it might be.
“A lot of the actions that we can do, especially in nitrates, are cost effective and they’ve got double benefits for biodiversity and it is really just putting that priority at the top of your list and not letting it slip I think is one of the key things we need to do going forward.”
For further details, watch the webinar recording below:
Alternatively, listen in as an episode of the Signpost Series podcast below:
For more episodes and to see future topics on the Signpost Series, click here.
The Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) is working with farmers in a free and confidential advisory service to help improve water quality. For further details on ASSAP, click here.