Kaj je bil obravnavani izziv/problem?

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

Kateri so dejavniki uspeha pri reševanju problema?

Interest of the farmers in changing

Trust in the advisor

Group peer to peer support

Support from the wider advisory and research community

Kateri so bili glavni izzivi med inovacijskim procesom?

At this stage the demand for the service from dairy farms is not growing fast enough.

Kakšno vlogo ima svetovalec ali svetovalna služba pri praktičnem primeru?

Zavedanje in izmenjava znanja, Svetovanje, Svetovanje in zaostanek sta bila namenjena reševanju zapletenih težav, zagotoviti med inovacijskim procesom in na podlagi zahtev akterjev in so-konstrukciji rešitev, Demand articulation, to allow actors to have access to new ideas, identify their needs, define their objectives and express clear demands to other actors, Omogočanje omrežja in posredništvo, za pomoč pri organizaciji ali krepitvi omrežij, izboljšati razmerja med ključnimi akterji in uskladiti storitve, da se lahko dopolnjujejo, Capacity building, aimed at increasing innovation actors’ capacities in order to play their roles in the innovation process, Facilitating access to new networks and actors, Povečanje inovacije za povečanje vnosa s širšo skupino

Za izmenjavo izkušenj praktičnega primera, prosim kontaktirajte

Tom Coll

tom.coll@teagasc.ie