by in News
June 5, 2017
EU Agri Meeting in Kilkenny

Over the past year PAC Ireland has attended a wide range of agricultural forums and meetings in Europe and Ireland providing the only representation for agricultural contractors at these events.  Most recently representatives from over twenty-four countries attended the Agricultural Digital Innovation Hubs seminar, which took place in Kilkenny on 1st/2nd June and was hosted by EU Agricultural Commissioner Phil Hogan and organised by the European Commission.  The focus of the meeting was to explore how smart farming technologies can be encouraged across Europe.  When he attended a meeting in Brussels on the future of agriculture earlier in the year, Tom Murphy highlighted the important and often overlooked role of agricultural contractors in farming.  As a result Tom was invited to attend the Kilkenny event at the express invitation of Commissioner Hogan.

“The Kilkenny seminar was an intense couple of days from start to finish declared Tom”; you had to be at the top of your game at all times.  Delegates worked in small groups reporting back to the plenary sessions at regular intervals.  The new “buzz word” for smart farming is “digital farming” and the planned outcome of the seminar is to establish Digital Innovation Hubs in each EU State.  Digital Innovation Hubs act as one-stop-shops enabling any farmer, contractor or agri-business to access the latest knowledge, expertise and technology and work together to maximise agricultural output.  PAC is firmly of the opinion that agricultural contractors will play a leading role in providing smart farming services to farmers, particularly on small and medium sized farms.  “Farming is changing says Tom and the digital train has already left the station……contractors will have to change with the times or be left behind.  Farmers need to produce more from their land and PAC wants to see training in place so that agri contractors can meet new challenges in providing digital farming options to their clients.

Focus Group

Focus Group

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Dissemination

Dissemination

Seminar Programme

Seminar Programme

Tom Murphy with Discussion Group