We are facing a time of real change in agriculture as we work to tackle climate change, to prepare for the effects, to reverse biodiversity loss and to keep producing enough food.  

A group of six research organisations has secured €2.2m for an all island initiative, Protein i,  to support the agrifood industry through this transition.  The team involves 17 principal investigators from Ulster University, University College Dublin, Teagasc, University College Cork, Queen's University Belfast, and the National University of Ireland Galway.

Ulster University is looking at how technology can be used to make the whole supply chain more secure, traceable, efficient and visible.  They plan to develop and trial a system over the next two years.  Whatever they design needs to work on the ground for farmers so they've reached out to GrowIN and NFFN to get farmers involved at this very early stage.

In this first round of short workshops they will be asking for information - What systems do you currently use? What works seamlessly and what drives you crazy? What would make your work easier?  What information needs to be passed along the supply chain?

At a later stage the team will be looking for farmers to trial the technology - let's all be part of the solution!