Irish tillage farmers are being asked to take part in an online survey to help determine the level of uptake of various technologies that are in use on Irish tillage farms.

The survey is being conducted by UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science and School of Biosystems and Food Engineering. The survey is anonymous and it is hoped that there will be a good response from tillage farmers, allowing UCD to gain a full understanding of technology use on Irish tillage farms.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, UCD lecturer and From the Tramlines participant Dr Gary Gillespie said: “While there is no such thing as a quiet time on any farm, we would appreciate people in the tillage sector taking a few minutes to answer these questions this January.

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“This will help us to gain a better understanding of the level of uptake of digital tools on Irish farms, the trends in uptake over the past number of years, and to identify the opportunities and challenges of digitising Irish agricultural data.

“This will also help us to tailor future research projects, whether they are related to agri technology or not, to meet the needs of the Irish tillage sector.”

The survey focuses on the technologies that may be on your farm, such as GPS and smartphone apps, but also includes questions on soil compaction, leaf tissue testing, soil testing, and fertiliser use.

Gary stressed that the survey is open to all tillage farmers, whether you have all the latest gadgets or prefer to keep away from technology.

The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and the link to the survey can be found here. If you have any questions, queries, or concerns about the survey, you can contact Gary Gillespie at the following email address: gary.gillespie@ucd.ie.