Pillar 1:
Stakeholder engagement through a Multi-Actor Approach

Objective:

To develop a multi-actor (farmers, industry, community, government) approach to support farmers to implement the 8-Actions for Change

Key Actions:

• Collaborate with key stakeholder (as outlined in Figure 4) using a multi-actor governance structure to guide the ‘Better Farming for Water’ campaign.
• Collaborate closely with programmes such as Agricultural Sustainability and Advisory
  Programme (ASSAP), Agricultural Catchments Programme (ACP), Agri-Climate Rural
  Environment Scheme (ACRES), Farming for Water EIP, Waters of LIFE, Blue Dot
  Catchments, Slaney project (and others) as part of the campaign.
• Leverage dairy co-ops links through ASSAP, and links to the meat, tillage and horticulture industries involved in existing programmes (e.g. Signpost Programme) to support them to utilise their infrastructure for promotion of water quality and distribution of information.
• Appoint Teagasc Water Catchment Co-ordinators to co-ordinate the efforts of all
  partners.
• Engage with LAWPRO and local authorities to identify local water pressures which will
  guide the ‘right measure in the right place’ approach.
• Identify ‘best-practice demonstration farmers’ and ‘community leaders’ to influence
  others to participate in the ‘Better Farming for Water’ campaign”.

Farmers, Farm Organisations, Meat & Dairy Processors, Government Departments, Environmental Regulator, Advisors, Research, Colleges & Universities, Local County Authority, Media, Agri-input Suppliers, Tillage Sector, Elected Officials

Figure 4: Key stakeholders required to develop a multi-actor approach

Achieving sustained environmental improvements requires coordinated action at river catchment scale. The multi-actor approach is thus a fundamental pillar of ‘Better Farming for Water’ campaign.
Ensuring active engagement with farmers, industry, community, and government stakeholders is crucial for effectively tackling the needs and challenges of landowners in addressing water quality.
By fostering collaboration among these key actors, we can help ensure that diverse perspectives and insights inform management decisions.

Engagement and involvement of multi-actors, from the outset (and over the full duration of the ‘Better Farming for Water’ campaign) will ensure that challenges and solutions to address water quality are captured at farm, catchment and regional scale.

The multi-actor approach will help foster a sense of collegiality and build relationships of trust between farmers and local actors. This co-operative approach will accelerate the transformation of existing scientific knowledge into targeted solutions (Pillar 4: Knowledge Transfer Programme) to address challenges to water quality.

The multi-actor network will also play a key role in dissemination, demonstration and communication activities. Dialogue and co-learning will lead to improved understanding and sustained behavioural change amongst all stakeholders.

A key principle of the campaign is to collaborate closely with existing programmes such as ACP, ACRES, ASSAP, Farming for Water EIP, Waters of LIFE, Blue Dot Catchments the Slaney project (and others). It will be particularly important that the ‘Better Farming for Water’ campaign links closely with ASSAP and builds on its work.

Key Deliverables

Q3 2024

Multi-actor stakeholder group established and chairperson appointed

Q3 2024

Best practice demonstration farmers identified

Q4 2024

Protocols agreed with dairy (DII), meat (MII) and tillage (TII) to promote and disseminate outputs from the Better Farming for Water campaign