¿Cuál fue el desafío/problema abordado??
Leitrim is a very rural part of Ireland with lots of small drystock farms who are elderly and /or working off farm. They traditionally farm sheep and beef cows at low stocking rates. The land is relatively poor in quality and suffers from high rainfall, so short grazing season and longer winters. As a consequence big areas of the farmland have been planted over the last 40 years with commercial forestry and this has impacted on the viability and sustainably of rural communities. Advisors and farmers have improved the quality and productivity of the remaining drystock farms but are keen to adopt new enterprises or systems that are more economically viable and fit better with elderly or part farm operators. One advisor (Tom Coll) has worked with these farmers and helped them to set up a contract rearing service group. This group is facilitated by the advisor who helps them to take in young calves form larger dairy farms and rear them to an agreed age where they are taken back to their farm of origin. There were many reservations a first by the farmers, but as a group the farmers worked with the advisor and others to ensure that the service was of high quality and offered a fair and valued option to both the dairy farmer and the contract rearing farm. The group works as a discussion group and promotes its service through the advisory service network. Contract rearing groups have been setup by other advisors in other regions and are supported by a wider pool of Teagasc research and specialist staff. https://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2020/contract-heifer-rearing.php
¿Cuáles son los factores de éxito para resolver el problema??
Interest of the farmers in changing
Trust in the advisor
Group peer to peer support
Support from the wider advisory and research community
¿Cuáles fueron los principales desafíos durante el proceso de innovación??
At this stage the demand for the service from dairy farms is not growing fast enough.
¿Qué papel juega el asesor o servicio de asesoramiento con el caso práctico??
Conciencia de conocimiento e intercambio, Consultivo, consultoría y respaldo dirigido a resolver problemas complejos, que se proporcionará durante el proceso de innovación y se basa en las demandas de los actores y la co-construcción de soluciones, Articulación de la demanda, para permitir que los actores tengan acceso a nuevas ideas, Identificar sus necesidades, Definir sus objetivos y expresar demandas claras a otros actores, Facilitación y corretaje de redes, para ayudar a organizar o fortalecer las redes, Mejorar las relaciones entre los actores clave y alinear los servicios para poder complementarse entre sí, Capacity building, aimed at increasing innovation actors’ capacities in order to play their roles in the innovation process, Facilitar el acceso a nuevas redes y actores, Escalando la innovación para aumentar la absorción de un grupo más amplio
Para compartir experiencia del caso práctico, Para cualquier duda y consulta sobre las próximas clases de excelencia
Tom Coll
tom.coll@teagasc.ie