The line-up for this conference was impressive, with local Kilkenny man, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, giving the keynote address. The small but interested crowd listened as the commissioner outlined that he believed that smart farming was one of the ways for farmers of all sizes to work more efficiently, and that in most cases it made more sense for the highly skilled contractor to make the investment and pass on the improved accuracy to their clients rather than for the smaller operators to make the capital investment.IFA president Joe Healy also spoke and pointed out that the relationship between contractors and farmers was an essential part of the fabric of farming life in Ireland. He also made a very strong mention of the fact that safety was one of the biggest concerns in Irish farming at the minute, with two fatalities already in 2018.
The line-up for this conference was impressive, with local Kilkenny man, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, giving the keynote address. The small but interested crowd listened as the commissioner outlined that he believed that smart farming was one of the ways for farmers of all sizes to work more efficiently, and that in most cases it made more sense for the highly skilled contractor to make the investment and pass on the improved accuracy to their clients rather than for the smaller operators to make the capital investment.
IFA president Joe Healy also spoke and pointed out that the relationship between contractors and farmers was an essential part of the fabric of farming life in Ireland. He also made a very strong mention of the fact that safety was one of the biggest concerns in Irish farming at the minute, with two fatalities already in 2018.
Following on the safety theme was FBD risk manager Ciaran Roche, who outlined not only the advantages of smart farming techniques in making the farm a safer place but also the situations where technology can be a danger to people.
One example of where it can help is with proximity wristbands for children that alert the driver of a machine when someone wearing one of the bands comes within a set distance of the machine. On the other side, he showed the audience pictures where tractors being operated with GPS auto-steer failed to recognise power pylons and the driver did not correct the path of the machine in time causing serious damage and/or injury.
Two of the major manufacturers were present, with Dr Markus Baldingder chief technical officer and head of research and development at Pöttinger (based in Austria) and Wilfried Muller, director of sales and marketing, Rauch (based in Germany) both giving brief overviews of their companies and the strides that they are taking to bring the latest technology to the farmers and contractors of Ireland and the rest of the world.
Two farmers also spoke at the event. Jacob Van Den Borne from the Netherlands is a farmer and contractor whose main crop is potatoes. Jacob was covering around 7,000ha and has found that the use of smart farming has greatly improved his efficiency and profitability. He is using soil sampling, conductivity and yield mapping to make decisions on the nutrient requirements of his crop to get the maximum profitability per hectare.
Kevin Nolan of Nolan Farming was the other farmer/contractor to speak. Kevin farms in the tillage heartland of Carlow. Kevin outlined how the use of technology in his business has made serious savings over the past number of years. Kevin claims that with medium-accuracy GPS auto-guidance on a 500ha tillage farm, the saving over 10 years would be upwards of €89,000. Kevin was the last speaker at the event before Michael Sheahan from Pac Closed the event by thanking all the speakers and the crowd for attending.
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