Farming issues in Connemara was the focus of a visit from Sinn Féin MEP for the Midlands and Northwest, Chris MacManus, to FORUM Connemara this week.
McManus, who was joined by local TD Mairead Farrell and the local Sinn Fein party rep for Letterfrack, Tom Healy, met with the rural development partnership in Connemara to discuss farming issues, particularly the two European Innovation Projects that FORUM is currently running in the region.
FORUM been running the successful North Connemara locally led agri-environmental scheme since 2019 which engages with 97 farmers to increase the social and economic viability of farming in North Connemara using an environmentally and ecologically sustainable, ground up approach.
The project covers two Special Areas of Conservation - the Twelve Bens/Garraun complex and the Maumturk mountain ranges - where local farmers integrate with agricultural industry experts to tackle the decline of the economic and social viability of farming in this important area.
The latest scheme undertaken by FORUM Connemara is the FOR farm health and safety EIP, which aims to promote and enhance on-farm health and safety at a local level on farms across north west Connemara.
The scheme is the only one being run countywide with the overall goal of improving current levels of health and safety on the farm, as well as co-operation among all stakeholders. It is currently accepting expressions of interest from farmers in the project area.
