Agricultural Study Visits
The following include a short summary of agricultural study visits delivered by The Rural Centre from 2012 – 2015. All current projects and events are on The Rural Centre website.
Study Visit Agriculture in France
A group fo 44 Farmers visited the Sommet de L’Elevage International Agricultural Show, Clermont-Ferrand, France 2 – 5 October 2012. The study visit programme was developed and led by Heather McLaughlin, Europe Direct NI.
The SOMMET DE L’ELEVAGE in Clermont-Ferrand is one of the largest international shows specialising in livestock production, located at the heart of the Massif Central, in the largest beef cattle breeding region in Europe. Each year the SOMMET Show hosts 1,250 exhibitors, 2,000 animals gathering together the very best in French animal genetics with livestock from every sector including beef, dairy, sheep and horses.
Members of the group from Fermanagh participated in farm visits which were run mornings and afternoons throughout the show. These provided an opportunity to visits livestock farms (e.g. Limousin, Charolais, Holstein, Montbeliarde,Texel Sheep etc) as well as agro-industrial technology units such as Cattle collecting centres, Feed-Lots, Slaughterhoues, artificial insemination unit etc).
Agricultural Visit: N Ireland to Hungary Sept 2013
Heather McLaughlin, Europe Direct NI organised this study visit for a group of 50 Fermanagh Farmers from Fermanagh and travelled with them to facilitate the visit 22 – 25 September 2013.
Day 1 of the programme included visits to Enying Cooperation. This Agricultural Corporation is one of the largest enterprises of its kind in Hungary. Its main work is dairy farming and horse breeding. The company has the largest stock of 3,500 cows in Hungary with annual milk production of 16,000 million kgs. The group visited Lajosmizse Charolais Ltd. with 460 Charolais cows kept on 850 hectare rented from the Kiskunság National Park. In winter the cows are kept in cowsheds, which have been newly renovated.
One of the highlights o the tour included dinner and a sightseeing cruise on the river Danube which bisects the city into two different parts: the hilly and more peaceful Buda on the right side, and the busy business Pest on the left. Both river banks offer many sights including the graceful tower of the Matthias Church, the Fishermen’s Bastion and the historic Castle District.
Fermanagh Farmers visit Spanish Beef and Dairy Producers
This study visit to Granada, Spain in September 2014 was developed and facilitated by Heather McLaughlin, Europe Direct NI, for over 40 Fermanagh Farmers.
The programme included beef and dairy visits including the “ Ganaderia Lodaisa S.C.A. a dairy farm near Granada managed by Auricle and his sister Anna Marie. This farm has 420 animals and produces 6500/7500 ltrs of milk. This milk is sent to a local dairy run by the co-operative to be sterilized and bottled and sold directly to residents and through various distribution channels.
Feedback from Participants:
‘Interesting to see a co-operative and its strength in savings and efficiency in sharing fixed costs’
‘Differences in farming systems and intensive feeding programmes’
‘Good to see everything up close and how a non grass system works and to follow system though to processing stage’
‘Excellent visit, well organised and lovely to have everything arranged and not to worry how to get there’
‘Interesting to see a much different approach to environmental legislation and compulsory innoculation’
‘Enjoyed the company and conversation of the group who asked lots of questions’
‘Seeing cattle management and productions systems, cattle welfare systems which helped to improve them at home”
‘We felt well looked after, everything well organised and we had an excellent local guide’
‘Interesting to hear about the olive production’
Agriculture and Tourism In Slovakia
The purpose of this visit was to look at agriculture and tourism in Bratislava and surrounding areas in preparation for agricultural study visits in 2016.
The capital city, Bratislava sits on the Danube river with Bratislava Castle on the hill overlooking the city. Bratislava city is less than one hour from Vienna, Austria. The small Carpathian region is famous for its wine production where the most famous producers of top-class Slovak wines are based.
The programme included a visit to a unique farm with sheep breeding, sheep cheese production and beef animal export across Europe. Traditional music and craft demonstration. A walking city tour of Bratislava, the UNESCO Banska Stiavnica with short falconry show, a tour and workshop in a ceramic factory and tour of a modern winery. The visit also included inspection of hotels and restuarants available for group visits.
CRANE: Multifunctional Farm Training
18 May 2018 The aim of the Erasmus+ CRANE project is to provide farmers involved in multifunctional farms with the skills and competencies required to fulfill their role of promoting and informing people about agriculture through non formal education.
The project partners are from the UK, Spain, Malta and Italy. Each of the partner regions are expert in different areas of multifunctional faming and they use their expereinces to develop and share training to support farmers in other regions develop different activites on their farms to improve their income. The training was developed and tested with 2 farmers from each region in Malta during the 14 – 18 May 2018.
Modules included:
Agritourism (Italy)
Marketing Strategy (Malta)
Direct Selling (Spain)
Social Farms (UK)
Educational Farms (Italy)`
Economics in Multifunctional farms (Malta)
Sustainability (Italy)
The training also included visits to multifunctional farms in Gozo.
