European Advisers meet in Galway

The general assembly for EUFRAS was held last week on the 19th and 20th February in Galway. EUFRAS (European Forum for Agricultural and Rural Advisory Services) was set up in 2013 with the aim of strengthening agricultural advisory connections across Europe.

Bernadette Bennett, a Teagasc Business and Technology Drystock adviser based in Portlaoise reports from the EUFRAS meeting.

The Board of EUFRAS,  including Bernadette Bennett (left) and conference attendees, visited the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation centre, Athenry, as part of the event.

You may wonder what benefit an organisation like EUFRAS has for Irish farmers ?

I attended my first EUFRAS event in Limerick in 2016. I was dubious about attending this event because I didn’t see how this event could cover anything that was relevant to me, or our agricultural practices, but since Teagasc was hosting the event all advisors in nearby counties were encouraged to attend. I was working in Tipperary at the time. The conference was hosted by English and German speakers with translations offered for those like myself who aren’t fluent in both languages. From the moment I arrived my eyes were opened to the number of people and countries who are passionate about agriculture across Europe. Being from a small island surrounded by English speaking countries, it can be very easy to forget that we have European neighbours that face the same challenges to their farming practices that we face. Traditionally, language barriers would probably also influence our relationship, however, I have discovered that this isn’t a barrier anymore as many of my European advisory colleagues have perfect English.

That day in Limerick I remember one of the discussions involved a young man who wanted to take over the running of the farm from his father. The advisor, stuck in the middle of the two warring parties, recounted to us how in her discussions with the son she discovered that he thought his father was backward and restricting, meanwhile, the father thought the son was careless with money and liked free time too much; ‘he doesn’t know the work I put in to build up this farm’. In that moment the kinship we share with farmers in Europe was brought into stark focus. Many similar discussions have taken place in Irish homesteads.

Since 2016 I have attended many EUFRAS events both in Ireland and abroad. I am proud of our green fields and fantastic animal welfare, and I find everyone is always interested to hear what farming practices are happening here, as our farmers are recognised as being world leaders in adapting new agricultural practices and maintaining high standards. Equally, it is very interesting to see the scale of farms across Europe, and the many challenges that are faced by those farmers.

In late 2023, I was asked if I would be interested in representing young advisors on the board of EUFRAS and was delighted to be elected to that position at the General Assembly in Helsinki in 2024. For me, EUFRAS has increased our connection to our European colleagues and our European farmers. The passion and love for agriculture that we have here in Ireland exists across Europe. At times when new legislations are brought in, and we are once again feeling bound to the EU, it can be easy to lose sight that these changes are happening for the over 9 million farmers across Europe, and these laws are passed to try to promote positive farming practices.

EUFRAS are presently working on a position paper so that the voice of advisors can be heard for the next CAP. As part of that, one of our key messages to Brussels is that the number of schemes be decreased to reduce the burden of paper work for farmers, both in Ireland and across Europe.

Although EUFRAS is an advisory network, at the very heart of it is agriculture and trying to strengthen relationships across Europe to improve the lives of all our farmer clients.