The Loop Head Peninsula has been catapulted onto the European Stage yet again, by becoming one of only three Irish Communities, geographically selected to facilitate the European ‘Living Labs’ Project in the mid-west of Ireland.
Following on from Loop Head’s success with the Hemp4Soil project for which they won a National Climate Action Award in 2023 – and also being named as Clare County Councils nominated Decarbonising Zone, the Loop Head Peninsula, are now embarking on a further project, in conjunction with TUS, and alongside the communities of Cloughjordan and Ballyhoura, to form, together, Ireland’s newest ‘Living Lab’.
This Living Lab project (also called SOILCRATES – part of the EU Mission: A soil deal for Europe) involves clusters of farmers from the three communities and beyond, who come together (alongside academic partners) to help develop, test and explore farming practices to improve soil health, in real-life farm environments
With soil health under increasing scrutiny at the Department level—impacting basic payments, fertiliser rates, stocking calculations, organic matter levels, slurry storage, and nitrate action—there is a pressing need to find solutions that are both environmentally sustainable and economically viable
The Living Lab’s main initiatives include addressing these soil health issues, such as nitrogen overuse and poor drainage, and introducing innovative practices like biochar application, intercropping with nitrogen-fixing plants, and community-oriented events.
The lab is structured to support knowledge exchange across multiple counties, fostering a collaborative network of stakeholders that promotes resilient agricultural systems in the Mid-West region.
Although Loop Head Together CLG, will be facilitating the farmers on the peninsula who are interested, the group are keen to point out that participation in the project is open to all interested farmers in the broader Mid-West region – with both Cloughjordan and Ballyhoura, also reaching out to farms in their wider localities.
The Irish ‘Living Lab’ of farms will also then feed into several European Living Labs, which are in the Netherlands, France and Spain – creating an even wider knowledge sharing pool, with real life findings and outcomes.
The overall aim of this project is to be farmer led – driven by the needs of the farmers, taking on board their challenges as well as their knowledge and expertise and contributing to more resilient and biodiverse farms all round.
“All efforts towards exploring sustainable soil management, doesn’t just improve soil health for participating farms, but for everyone” said Principal Investigator/Research Fellow with TUS, Lena Madden, “…all knowledge will be continuously shared which has the potential to really help with building a resilience both economically and environmentally for farmers all across the mid-west”.
The ‘Soilcrates – Living Lab’ project is now about to kick off with a call for farmers who might like to learn more.
There are two levels of participation.
All farmers, or anyone with an interest in soil health, across the mid-west region are invited to at least participate by following the project for information, by attending events and workshops.
Farmers who might like to participate more actively, by becoming an actual ‘Living Lab Farm’, will be asked to highlight the challenges they are experiencing, and provide a piece of land for the duration of the project, to explore sustainable practices to address the issues they might be experiencing on their land.
“We are delighted to be facilitating the roll out of this exciting project on the Loop Head Peninsula and beyond” said Margaret Cotter, Director and Chairperson on the Board of Loop Head Together CLG, “…To be working alongside our friends in Cloughjordan and Ballyhoura, in an effort to truly explore the most sustainable ways to address the soil challenges that Irish farmers in the mid-west may be experiencing – and to then be in a position to share those outcomes back to wider audiences around Ireland and in Europe, is a wonderful position to be in. It will also be a very useful for farmers, at all levels of participation, to be able to show the Department that their region is making every effort to explore and test sustainable farming practices”.
Loop Head’s Living Lab will be led by TUS (Technical University of the Shannon) and will be facilitated on the ground locally here by Loop Head Together CLG and assisted in the technical realm by Wild Atlantic Hemp in Carrigaholt.
The First Loop Head Event to introduce the project locally on Loop Head, will take place on Saturday the 26th of April at 1pm
Venue: Cross Digital Hub – Cross Village, Co Clare, V15 TW83 – All Welcome
In the meantime, further information on the project can be found by going to www.loopheadtogether.ie/soilcrates