Farmers can receive €750 per annum (total of €2,250) if they meet all requirements under the new Knowledge Transfer Programme under Ireland’s 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan.
The KTP, builds on the measure in the previous CAP, and aims to provide support for high-quality and targeted advice to farmers, delivered by professional agricultural advisors with appropriate experience and expertise, known as KT facilitators, according to the DAFM.
It aims to increase understanding of topics such as:
- Biodiversity;
- Water quality;
- Air quality;
- Climate change;
- Bioeconomy;
- Soil health;
- Animal health and welfare;
- Farm management;
- Integrated approaches to farming and forestry;
- Digital and smart technologies;
- Research;
- Innovation;
- EIP-AGRI operational group developments;
- Financial management;
- Succession planning.
New KT programme
Each KT group can have a maximum of 20 participants and each participant must attend 8 group meetings and one-to-one with the KT Facilitator each year of the 3-year programme.
Facilitators will receive €500 per annum per participant in their group(s) where all the requirements of the programme have been met.
In opening the scheme, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine McConalogue said:
“This new programme will foster knowledge exchange and innovation between advisors, farmers and other stakeholders and will play a crucial role in helping farmers meet current and future challenges.”
“This new programme will build on what was achieved by its predecessor under the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme.”
“It will also contribute to the wider development of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) by harnessing the knowledge of all those who work in the agri-food chain.”
“I look forward to advisors and farmers engaging with the new KT Programme – to the benefit of Irish farm businesses – as this is where the programme’s success will be measured.”
Peer learning to drive behavioural change
Minister Heydon, who has special responsibility for farm safety stated that the new KT Programme will provide an “important avenue” to support farmers to access information across a wide range of topics including environmental sustainability, digital and smart technologies, and succession planning.
He said: “I am particularly pleased that farm health, safety and wellbeing has been included as a priority topic in the new programme.”
“Peer learning is a powerful driver of behavioural change and has been shown to be an effective method of improving safety on farms.”
“This ensures the programme covers not only economic and environmental sustainability but also social sustainability on farms.”
Readers should note that the aforementioned Knowledge Transfer Programme is separate from a bespoke forestry-specific Knowledge Transfer Programme announced by Minister Pippa Hackett, as outlined in this news article.
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