Science Foundation Ireland looks at the future of farming ahead of this year’s National Ploughing Championship –

2^ndSeptember – This year marks the 85^th year of the National Ploughing Championship. Following last year’s hugely successful exhibition, the Science Foundation Ireland tent will return – featuring more shows, demonstration and exhibitions.

Ahead of the big event #ScienceRisingis featuring all things agriculturalfor the month of September.

Speaking on agricultural research in Ireland Prof Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government said: “Since 2000 Science Foundation Ireland has invested over €41 million in agricultural research across 161 awards. This month the #ScienceRising campaign is showcasing some of the excellent and impactful research taking place. Experts will be providing exciting insights into the smart farms of the future.”

According to a UN report on population growth, the current estimation of 7 billion global citizens is set to rise to 9.6 billion by 2050. This will require, by current standards, an increase in food production of 70%. With 40% of the worlds land mass already dedicated to agriculture this increase is currently unmanageable. Science Foundation Ireland has spoken to some of the researchers working on precision agriculture or smart farming and asked how changes to farming techniques will help to make current farmland more productive.

Prof Willie Donnelly, President of Waterford Institute of Technology and Principle Investigator at the SFI funded CONNECT Research Centre, explains what Smart Farming is:

“Smart Farming is increasing quality and quantity of agricultural production using sensing technology. The aim is to make farms more ‘intelligent’ and more connected through so-called ‘precision agriculture’,also known as ‘smart farming’. The focus in the future will be on technology which supportsreal time decision makingsystems that can provide the right solution at the right time without the need for human intervention. This willliberate farmers to apply theirexpertise to high value activities.”

Professor Donnelly identifies themain drivers behind the changing nature of farming:

“One is the expected growth in global population, creating a demand for foods that are high in nutrition and can be delivered in peak condition to the consumer. Also targeted food production, if we were to develop more efficient systems to ensure that food waste become a thing of the past then we could feed the additional growth in the world population by using a similar level of land that we have today. Secondly, there is an increasing need for environmental sustainability;farmers are finding that they are now required to measure the environmental impact of their food production environment.”

What does the farm of the future look like?Dr Laurence Shalloo, Senior Research Officer at Teagasc and SFI Investigator Programme awardee shares his thoughts:

“Future farms will have a greater focus on technologies that increase efficiency and sustainability of their business. Farms will use different technologies to manage grassland andanimals, and the interaction between the two. There will be different pieces of farm machinery communicating directly with different stakeholders (e.g. suppliers, customers). All of this data will be integrated across various platforms and data analytics will be used to provide real time solutions to the farmer.”

Prof Willie Donnelly highlights what farmers should do now to “futureproof” their farms:“The first phase of futureproofing is to ensure that precision farming technology is applied to those areas of real value to the farmer. Farmers should focus on the introduction of technology which moves away from producing data and moves towards providing an intelligence or decision support. Partners need to form alliances with processors and suppliers to develop, implement and share information, ensuring that farmers and suppliers/processors are focused on collaborative market development.”

Concluding Professor Ferguson said: “We are delighted to once again be participating in the National Ploughing Championships. Along with the 12 world-leading Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres, we will be hosting many intriguing shows and exhibitions on agriculture and food science. All visitors to this year’s Ploughing are invited and welcome to visit the Science Foundation Irelandtent and participate in some informative science fun.”

Under EU Regulation, steel products manufactured within the EU will not be able to use passivations containing hexavalent-chromium (CrVl or Cr).From September, all V-Mac Silos will be manufactured fromMagiZinc an innovative Chromiumfree alternative to traditional Galvanise Material.

Tullamore D.E.W. – the original tripledistilled, triple blend Irish whiskey – is getting ready for a unique activation at this year’s National Ploughing Championships, which take place in Screggan, Co. Offaly; September 20th – 22nd.

With the Championships taking up residence just down the road from Tullamore D.E.W’s €35 million state of the art distillery which opened in 2014, the leading Irish whiskey will celebrate the unique occasion by hosting a pop up snugat the show, featuring bespoke tasting sessions of the Tullamore D.E.W. range and storytelling, hosted by Tullamore D.E.W. Global Brand Ambassador, John Quinn. Stories of True Character will be shared throughout the three days whilst attendees enjoy tasters of Tullamore D.E.W.’s finest.

The snug will showcase Tullamore D.E.W.’s expertise in, and passion for, whiskey by sampling some of the brand’s finest blends on-site.Of late, the whiskey has been impressively lauded,winning several awards at the 2015 Irish Whiskey Awards.Tullamore D.E.W. 12 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey won the award for best Irish Blended Whiskey (RRP less than €60), with Tullamore D.E.W. Phoenix receiving the top accolade for Irish Cask Strength Whiskey. Tullamore D.E.W. also received a gold medal for its 10 Year Old Single Malt. Furthermore, at the International Spirits Challenge Awards 2016, Tullamore D.E.W. 14 Year Old Single Malt won a gold medal with Tullamore D.E.W.’s owner, William Grant & Sons Ltd. also winning Distiller of the Year.

The Tullamore D.E.W. pop up snug will feature for the duration of the Ploughing Championships, with whiskey tastings taking place on the hour, on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees must be over 18 and ID will be required.

Host John Quinnis the Global Brand Ambassador for Tullamore D.E.W., responsible for spreading the word and improving product knowledge about Tullamore D.E.W. around the world. John works alongside a team of local Tullamore D.E.W. brand ambassadors in key markets such as America, UK, France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Scandinavia and Ireland. Although he is the first Global Brand Ambassador for Tullamore D.E.W., he isn’t new to Irish whiskey, and is currently in his 35th year of service with the brand.

John spends some of his time in the Tullamore D.E.W. Old Bonded Warehouse, where visitors can embark on some of the tours that are available, year-round. Here, Tullamore D.E.W. invites the world to come to Tullamore, and discover how this unique whiskey got its character. Guests can take one of three tours and savour almost two centuries of the distillery’s history, discovering the secret that gives Tullamore D.E.W. its unique complexity. A new range of tours have recently been launched with something for everyone,from those who are curious about whiskey to the true whiskey explorers. The tours offer an authentic insight into what it is that makes Tullamore D.E.W. a whiskey of True Character.

The Curious Tasters Journey

Any whiskey enthusiasts wanting to experience more of the Tullamore D.E.W.world can visit Tullamore D.E.W.’s Old Bonded Warehouse and get up close and personal with the history, and of course the whiskey, on this journey for the curious tasters. Guests will be personally welcomed and guided by one of Tullamore D.E.W.’s whiskey experts from beginning to end. Starting with the birth of a blend and finishing with a triple tasting.

The Whiskey Wise Masterclass

This masterclass lets guests explore the depth of character in six of Tullamore D.E.W.’s finest whiskeys as visitors enjoy a tutored tasting. The tour also delves into the character of Daniel E. Williams and the whiskey making process he perfected, as visitors are guided by whiskey experts. The tour concludes with exclusive access to the Williams’ Whiskey Gallery, where guests can take a well-earned rest and put their new-found knowledge to good use.

The Ultimate Distillery Experience

This five-hour tour allows visitors become the ultimate guests at the Tullamore Distillery and take in the splendour of Distillery House. The Tullamore D.E.W. Distillery Ambassador will lead the tour through the production process from Still House to Warehouse. Guests then enter the Blending Room for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to create their own unique blend of whiskey. Visitors will soon feel part of the Tullamore D.E.W. family as they exchange stories by the fire with a rare glass of an exclusive blend.

 We have been a Joinery company since 1986 when we were founded by managing director, John Burke. Our factory and offices are based in Ballyfermot, Dublin where we currently employ 27 people.

Due to the industry in which we operate we were hit particularly hard by the recession. However, through hard work, determination and perhaps most importantly, innovation, we refused to give in and we managed to keep our heads above water and have slowly begun to strive again.

In the depths of a global and national economic crisis, we knew we had to be proactive and positive and, in a sense, reinvent part of our company through a drive for innovation. This came in the form of the Irish Telephone Box.

Our managing director John combined a love of Irish history and his own memories of the original Irish telephone box with his in-depth knowledge , expertise and passion for carpentry and craftsmanship. And this is how the Irish telephone box was reborn.

It was then that we decided to recreate the Irish telephone box and bring these beautiful and iconic pieces of Irish history back to life. Having researched the original phone boxes we designed and hand-crafted models which are the exact same in terms of size and design as the original. The full sized model is which is our original is called the ‘The Yeats’ .

A number of famous Irish pubs have installed one of our phone boxes on their premises including The Brazen Head, The Baggot Inn, The Guinness Storehouse and Durty Nelly’s to name a few. We have also branched into the corporate sector with our sound reduction Yeats quite zone models and have done fit outs for companies such as Bank of Ireland, Facebook, Saleforce and Blueface.

For the domestic market we then began to make smaller models which are also hand crafted and built to scale of the full size model. We now produce 7 models of these beautiful phone boxes, each one is named after a famous Irish poet or playwright The smallest of these models is ‘The Swift’ which is used for table top storage for stationary, sweets, teabags etc. Larger models have been used for wine racks, garden ornaments, lanterns and even children’s play areas. Further functionalities include a lamp, mobile phone docking station, aquarium and even a jukebox. The success of the Telephone box range spurred us on to release a Post Box range also.

We also an extensive range of gifts and souvenirs which include Christmas decorations, key rings, fridge magnets, bottle openers etc.. These are very popular among tourists and Irish people alike which has been proven by our large and growing list of stockists such as Eason, Shannon Airport and Paddywagon tours.

We are very proud of the fact that we have taken an iconic piece of Irish history which had become obsolete and given it a new function. Our goal is to ensure that these beautiful pieces which were so important for so many Irish people at home and abroad are not forgotten and can now be given a new purpose. We aim to bring new life to an iconic piece of Irish history, and we feel we have been successfully doing that.