Teagasc Climate Action Strategy - Signpost Advisory Programme

The Signpost Advisory Programme is a new service which Teagasc aims to make available to all farmers, to allow them to know their current emissions and sequestration, to make a plan to improve, help them with the implementation of the plan, and track progress.

The Irish Government set a target of a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (5.75 Mt CO2eq) for the agriculture sector. As part of its Climate Action Strategy, Teagasc has set out a road map on how this can be achieved without impacting on the competitiveness of the agri-food sector.

To achieve this, Teagasc is significantly increasing its resources devoted to climate related research and knowledge transfer.

The three key pillars of the new Climate Action Strategy are:

• A Signpost Advisory Programme
• A Sustainability Digital Platform
• A Virtual National Centre for Agri-food Climate Research and Innovation

Signpost Advisory Programme

A team of 30 advisors will commence the programme in 2023 and Teagasc plans to increase this significantly in subsequent years, as well as supplementing the in-house team with outsourced resources.

This targeted advisory programme will support climate and sustainability actions on farms and will be available to all farmers. It will build on the network of Signpost Demonstration Farms by providing enhanced advisory and training support to farmers to commit to, select and implement climate and sustainability actions that will be appropriate and impactful on their farms. Participating farmers will be given the opportunity to commit to taking action for their farms.

A “Know My Number – Make My Plan” component of the programme, supported by the Sustainability Digital Platform, will allow farmers to see and understand their carbon emissions and sequestration profile as a baseline on which to act. A team of 30 advisors will commence the programme in 2023.

With advisory support, farmers will make a plan to improve by adopting positive changes and technologies, and advisors will help them with the implementation of the plan, and tracking of progress. This will also create trust and build capacity for supporting the adoption of new technologies as they emerge. The ambition of the programme is to engage with 50,000 farmers between now and 2030.

Signpost Advisory Programme Pillars

• Available to all farmers
• Enhanced advisory & training support
• "Know my number - Make my plan" supported by the sustainability digital platform
• Engage with 50,000 farmers between now and 2030

Milestones for the Signpost Advisory Programme

Q1 2023 Signpost Advisory Programme established.
Q2 2023 5,000 (mainly derogation) farmers registered and committed to an action plan.
Q4 2023 5,000 new farmers registered. 10,000 farmers participating.
2024 10,000 new farmers registered. 20,000 participating.
2025 10,000 new farmers registered. 30,000 participating.
2026 10,000 new farmers registered. 30,000 participating. 10,000 completed.
2027 10,000 new farmers registered. 30,000 participating. 20,000 completed.
2030 50,000 farmers complete the programme by 2030.

For more information and to read the Climate Action Strategy document visiwww.teagasc.ie/environment/climate-action/