Agricultural Catchments Week 2023

The Agricultural Catchments Programme (ACP) ran a dedicated week of activities showcasing its research and advisory programme from Friday 5 May to Friday 12 May. Its theme was ‘A Living Lab Monitoring Water Quality and Gaseous Emissions.’

All through the week the ACP team showcased research, advisory and collaborative initiatives focused on water quality monitoring and improvement. Since 2008, the programme has been working with over 300 landowners in 6 catchments located around the country, monitoring water quality and assessing the impact of changes in Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme and Nitrates Derogation. In recent years, the programme has also started research on gaseous emissions.

The week started with a Teagasc Signpost Series Webinar on 5 May and was followed by a mix of in-person events, written articles, podcasts, and culminated with a public open day at the water monitoring outlet in the Timoleague catchment located in County Cork.

The content of the week was published each day through the Teagasc website, corporate social media channels and also the ACP’s own channels. There was a different focus and output for each day with the following highlights:

Friday 5 May

• Webinar, The Signpost Series, Water quality trends from the ACP, Per-Erik Mellander & Jason Galloway. 

• Article, Teagasc Daily, Introduction to Agricultural Catchments Week 2023, Bridget Lynch & Tom O'Connell.  Video of the Monitoring the living lab

Saturday 6 May

• Radio interview: Cork C103 Farmtalk show, 7-8am, Timoleague catchment update, Oisín Coakley

Monday 8 May

• Launch of the Catchment Science 2023 conference article

• Podcast: The Environment Edge - Farmers' preferences for actions to adhere to the 5th NAP, Diarmuid Mulkerrins.

Tuesday 9 May

• Article: Teagasc Daily - Seasonality of nitrate loss, Edward Burgess.

• Podcast: The Dairy Edge - Seasonality of nitrate loss, Edward Burgess. 

• Catchment visit: Penn State University in Ballycanew, ACP team

Wednesday 10 May

• Article: Teagasc Daily - Sub-catchments, Jason Galloway.

• Video: The Timoleague catchment open day, Bridget Lynch. 

• Video: An international view of the ACP, Patrick Drohan, Kaleena Czajkowski & Fin Turnage-Barney. 

Thursday 11 May

• Article: Teagasc Daily - Catch crops, Bridget Lynch. 

• Video: Soil solution monitoring, Ognjen Zurovec. 

• Article: Teagasc Daily - Volumetric soil moisture content; Una Cullen, Johan Kisters & Joost Beckers. 

Friday 12 May

• Webinar: The Signpost Series, The ACP - gaseous emissions and soil science update, Bridget Lynch & Ognjen Zurovec. 

• Open day: Timoleague catchment 11-1.30pm, ACP team & others. Article

• Open day: Timoleague video

Attendees got updates at eight different stops and PDFs of boards (no board at kiosk) can be downloaded at the following links:

Introduction, Bridget Lynch 

Nutrient management, Edward Burgess

Soil solution monitoring, Ognjen Zurovec

Farmers' opinions, Michele McCormack & Diarmuid Mulkerrins

Modelling, Daniel Hawtree 

Water quality, Per-Erik Mellander, Golnaz Ezzati & Jason Galloway

Ecology, Lane Giles ASSAP & David Hegarty LAWPRO

The ACP acknowledges participants and others who are contributed to the week. This was the second time to run such an event and the details for Agricultural Catchments Week 2022 are available here.

The ACP is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.