Crops Demonstration Farms sought

The role of these farmers is to host visits and showcase the use of innovative technologies on their farms.

The aim is to encourage a greater rate of technology adoption on farms in Northern Ireland as research shows that early adopters of innovations and technology play an important role in convincing their peers to take more innovative approaches.

It is the intention to appoint two new crop farms. These will be people who enjoy welcoming other farmers onto their farm and can tell their story of how they have introduced new technologies into their business.

Farms will be selected under two themes namely: Efficient Nutrition of Crops and Minimum Tillage Crop Establishment.

Farmers are eligible to apply for more than one theme but can only be appointed under one theme.

It should also be noted that if a herd does not have ‘OTF’ status with regard to Tuberculosis, the farm can still apply to be a TDF.

Visits can be held remotely via a video conferencing application should either TB status or COVID restrictions prevent an on-farm meeting

Within each theme there is a list of proven technologies which should currently be used on the farm.

One farm is being sought for each theme with appointments being made on a competitive basis.

Those farmers who meet the eligibility criteria, and are short-listed, will be assessed by a panel during a visit to their farm.

Selected farms will be expected to host between eight and twelve visits for groups of between five and twenty five farmers.

CAFRE Technologists and scheme support staff will help the farmer prepare to host visits and at each visit a support assistant will be available to help them with arrangements. All bookings will be made through CAFRE.

Technology Demonstration Farms will receive a hosting payment of £600 for each visit.

In addition, CAFRE will support TDFs by analysing the performance of their technology, providing appropriate diagnostic testing and arranging, where appropriate, for specialists, to visit and speak on their farm.

Farmers who are interested in becoming a Crops Technology Demonstration Farm can find out more details about the scheme and complete an online application at: https://www.cafre.ac.uk/business-support/rural-development-programmes/technology-demonstration-farms/

Applications will open on March 29 and close at 4pm on April 23.

Technology Demonstration Farms will help DAERA’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) to deliver the Innovation, Technology, Evaluation, Demonstration Scheme.

This new scheme, is part of the NI Rural Development Programme and is funded by DAERA and the EU.