Beef farmers are invited to attend a national beef event hosted by Beef Innovation Network Europe (BoVINE) which will take place virtually at 8pm on Tuesday 26 October.

BovINE is a EU-funded project aiming to improve the technical, economic and environmental sustainability of beef farms across Europe.

It links farmers, advisors, researchers, and all other relevant stakeholders, across nine EU member states.

It aims to identify the current challenges farmers are facing in becoming more sustainable and then finding solutions to these challenges by collecting good practices from other European beef farms and practical research innovations not yet applied on beef farms.

Sustainability

The title of the upcoming event is Delivering a Sustainable Beef Sector.

Among those who will speak as part of the event are:

  • IFA President Tim Cullinan will present the opening address to the meeting.
  • Maeve Henchion, Teagasc and the BovINE project co-ordinator, will facilitate a panel discussion on research innovations and good practices that can make a real difference in improving the sustainability of the Irish beef sector.
  • The panellists and topics will include:

  • Helen Sheridan from University College Dublin on the role of multispecies swards on beef farms.
  • Kieran Dooley, a beef finisher from Co Offaly, on managing animal health and welfare.
  • Tom O’Dwyer from Teagasc on the new Teagasc Signpost programme on beef farms and carbon sequestration.

  • Mick O’Dowd from Kepak on the Twenty20 Club and supplier/processor contracts.
  • Richard Lynch from Teagasc and the BovINE project manager will present an update on the progress of BovINE and the solutions from across Europe available on the BovINE Knowledge Hub.
  • The second part of the meeting will focus on participation from the audience and the selection of priority topics for the project to address in 2022.

    Participants will be divided into four breakout rooms to discuss their challenges in being more economically resilient, animal health and welfare friendly, and environmentally sustainable.

    Adam Woods, beef editor from the Irish Farmers Journal, will summarise the outcome from the breakout sessions and identify the priority needs of Irish beef farmers for 2022.