Teagasc Daily - One year on
Today is the 1st Anniversary of the introduction of Teagasc Daily, a new digital communication channel providing information to Teagasc audiences. It was set up in response to the first Covid related lockdown last March, as a digital tool to maintain knowledge transfer to Teagasc audiences.
In the last year, hundreds of thousands of farmers, advisors and agriculturalists have accessed timely technical information and the latest research and advice through Teagasc Daily, www.teagasc.ie/daily. Presented by Teagasc PR, Teagasc Daily issues the latest news, information and advice on a daily basis, 365 days a year.
Teagasc Daily was created on 18th March 2020 and provides a digital communication channel through which Teagasc staff can deliver their messages to their respective external audiences. The first article to issue last March was CAP provides important funds for Irish farms written by James McDonnell, Teagasc Farm Management Department. The top articles of interest on Teagasc Daily in the first six months since its inception were:
- Beef Environment Efficiency Programme-Sucklers (BEEP-S)
- Long Term Land Leasing
- Some recommendations to protect the health of humans, horses and business from the effects of Covid-19
In mid-July an updated version of Teagasc Daily went live, with its own dedicated section on www.teagasc.ie . The hashtag #TeagascDaily is used. There is now the option to share Articles through email, or on a variety of platforms including:
- WhatsApp – (this is only available on phones with the app installed)
- Facebook messenger
There is also an option to print.
In the past 6 months the top articles of interest have been:
- Hedges – Rules and Regulations
- Thousands of kilometres of new fencing required on heavily stocked farms
- Castration – Best Practice
- Smarter milking to increase efficiency and reduce repetitive strain injuries
Teagasc Daily contains a wealth of timely information, in one place, for the advisory service to easily circulate to clients individually, or in groups. It is useful in assisting advisors with one-to-one queries, or in covering a topic with a discussion group.
It is now convenient to share these articles quickly and easily with Teagasc clients providing them with up-to-date relevant information as soon as it is received, using the methods above. Content on Teagasc Daily includes the enterprise podcasts, webinars, weekly enterprise updates, Grass10 newsletters and advisors articles and videos.
Over the past year Teagasc Daily was instrumental in the promotion and delivery of the successful Teagasc virtual corporate events including Virtual Beef Week, Virtual Sheep Week, Virtual Pig Week, Teagasc Hedgerow Week and CalfCare Virtual Week. All of the traditional Teagasc Conferences were converted to virtual events and these webinars were promoted through Teagasc Daily and then made available as recordings post event on Teagasc Daily.
Regular updates from the Grass10 team, the Newford Demonstration farm in Athenry, Teagasc Newsletters and Today’s Farm flow through this communication channel. Teagasc Daily also provides information on education courses and updates from all of the College Open days.
Teagasc Daily is a digital gateway to the full suite of Teagasc Podcasts such as the Dairy Edge, Beef Edge, Ovicast, Pig Edge, Tillage Edge, the Research Field and more recently the Environment Edge which can be accessed on the website www.teagasc.ie/podcasts .
Further development is planned, with work on an app having commenced.