Wat was de uitdaging/het probleem aangepakt?
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
Wat zijn de succesfactoren bij het oplossen van het probleem??
Interest of the farmers in changing
Trust in the advisor
Group peer to peer support
Support from the wider advisory and research community
Wat waren de belangrijkste uitdagingen tijdens het innovatieproces??
At this stage the demand for the service from dairy farms is not growing fast enough.
Welke rol speelt de adviseur of adviesdienst met de praktische zaak?
Kennisbewustzijn en -uitwisseling, Adviserend, consultancy en backstopping gericht op het oplossen van complexe problemen, die tijdens het innovatieproces moet worden geboden en gebaseerd op de eisen van actoren en de gezamenlijke constructie van oplossingen, Demand articulation, to allow actors to have access to new ideas, identify their needs, define their objectives and express clear demands to other actors, Netwerkfacilitatie en -bemiddeling, netwerken helpen organiseren of versterken, de relaties tussen de belangrijkste actoren te verbeteren en de diensten op elkaar af te stemmen, zodat ze elkaar kunnen aanvullen, Capacity building, aimed at increasing innovation actors’ capacities in order to play their roles in the innovation process, Het faciliteren van toegang tot nieuwe netwerken en actoren, Het opschalen van de innovatie om de acceptatie door een bredere groep te vergroten
Voor het delen van ervaringen uit de praktijkcasus, Neem contact op
Tom Coll
tom.coll@teagasc.ie