Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has announced that a further €2m in funding will be allocated to developing the AgNav platform which allows farmers and their advisers to draw up farm-specific emissions reduction plans.

The online platform passed its pilot stage and is ready for a wider roll-out, having been jointly developed by Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).

It will serve as a digital platform which can be used by farmers participating in Bord Bia’s quality assurance schemes to meet their audit requirements.

Minister McConalogue hailed the tool as being a development of “strategic national importance”, as it will account for the progress taken by farmers towards climate action plan targets.

Assessment

“AgNav puts the farmer in control of actions on their farm that will deliver on climate action,” the Minister claimed.

“AgNav provides a whole farm sustainability assessment and includes a decision support function (forecaster tool) that allows science-led plans be made for individual farms to reduce emissions and increase sequestration.”

Teagasc director Prof Frank O’Mara welcomed the Department’s investment in the digital tool as it moves towards a wider roll-out.

“This new funding will greatly accelerate the development of AgNav, which utilises the three agencies’ collective knowledge to provide farmers with accurate and verifiable data to support decision making with respect to environmental performance,” O’Mara said.

“This will enable all farmers across Ireland to set new standards in terms of the environmental sustainability of their individual farms through adoption of mitigation technologies while continuing to improve productivity and ensure economic viability.”