Investment worth €20 million in the VistaMilk Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre for research into the digitalisation of the Irish dairy sector has been announced today (Tuesday, May 14).
The funding is being provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Under the theme ‘digitalising dairy’, the research aims to bring technology to dairy farming to increase the efficiency of dairy production and processing, the director of the VistaMilk SFI Centre, Donagh Berry said.
The research is now in its second phase which is a virtual representation of all steps in the dairy supply chain. The aim is to emulate, if any effects were to happen in the food chain, what the upstream and downstream ramifications are, he said.
The VistaMilk SFI Research Centre will also receive funding worth €5 million from the industry in addition to the government funding announced today, according to Berry.
This funding will be used for both long-term and short-term research, which will look at topics including methane reducing compounds and breeding strategies, the director told Agriland.
VistaMilk
The research centre focuses on innovation in technology and enhancing sustainability across the dairy supply chain from soil to society, positively impacting the environment, animal well-being and the health of consumers.
The four thematic areas included in VistaMilk’s research programme are soil, pasture, animal and food, representing the main domain areas spanning the soil-to-gut chain.
VistaMilk links the Irish agri-food industry with Ireland’s leading agri-food and technology research institutes in a large-scale innovation ecosystem that includes 14 research institutes and over 50 industry partners.
The VistaMilk SFI Research Centre, which is based at Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, is among four SFI research centres which will benefit from total investment of €104 million.
The funding will support over 600 research positions in the bio-economy, agri-food, neurological disease and advanced manufacturing sectors over the next six years.