Key areas of focus include healthy diets, water quality, biodiversity, climate change, animal health and welfare, and farm safety.

The Government has today (30 April) announced a major investment into research for the agri-food, forestry and bioeconomy spaces, with 30 new pioneering projects to receive a share of €37.5m in support of research across 19 institutions. 

Key areas of focus include innovation and value-add in the food sector, healthy diets, improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, tackling climate change, strengthening animal health and welfare, and advancing farm safety.

The successful projects include UCD’s ‘All Island of Ireland Surveillance of Zoonotic Pathogens’, Maynooth University’s ‘Antimicrobial Resistance Dynamics, Evolution and Emerging Threats in the Environment’, and Teagasc’s ‘Water Quality Response Times for Irish Catchments’ and ‘Reducing Methane Emissions in Irish Beef Systems through Strategic Use of Feed Additives and Early Life Interventions’, among others. 

Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon, TD said: “This €37.5m in awards is an investment in the future of Ireland’s agri-food, forest and bioeconomy sectors. Cutting-edge research and innovation are essential to ensuring that these sectors remain competitive, resilient and sustainable in the years ahead.”

Minister of State for Research and Development Noel Grealish, TD added: “Collaboration is at the heart of this investment. I am delighted to see that the projects will involve the education and training of over 90 postgraduate students and over 60 contract researchers, thus ensuring a continuous stream of highly skilled scientific talent coming through to our industry.”

As part of the ongoing North-South cooperation on agri-food research and innovation, Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs collaborated in the research call and will provide co-funding of more than €3m to enable research organisations in the North to participate in projects with partners in the Republic. 

Late last year, SiliconRepublic.com spoke with Teagasc researcher Dr Norah O’Shea about digital transformation and how it is a recipe for success in the agri-food sector. O’Shea is a senior research officer in the Food Chemistry and Technology Department at the Teagasc Food Research Centre at Moorepark in Cork.

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