BUILDING on their current successes in the area of renewable energy technology, farm waste management has now become a focus for research and development at the Omagh campus of the newly announced South West College.
Working in partnership, Omagh College and IT Sligo have been carrying out research into the area of farm waste and the best options for its management.
Having been made aware of the issue of farm waste management by the local agricultural community, the partnership formed the North West Environmental Energy Consortium (NWEEC). The consortium aims to improve the information, training and educational resource for sustainability and renewable energy applications in the local community.
To assist in achieving these aims, the Consortium secured EU funding of ¤399,755 through the INTERREG IIIA programme for Ireland/Northern Ireland which has been managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN) based in the New Hope Centre, Enniskillen.
To assess the best types of technology used to treat farm wastes, the project partners undertook a number of field trips to Denmark, Austria, Germany and the US to attend conferences and agricultural shows to view new technology and select those most appropriate to the Irish agricultural situation.
Technologies such as anaerobic digestion, nutrient stripping, bioremediation, slurry separation, application technologies (trailing-shoe, band-spreading and injection) and agricultural renewable energy applications have all been researched with the aim of applying them to the Irish agricultural situation which, as the researchers have found, is vastly different when compared to our European counterparts.
Following the field visits, the new technologies viewed were assessed for their ease of application and the benefits they could offer to Irish farmers.
The project partners have made presentations to farmers groups and their representatives to improve the knowledge base in the area of waste treatment technologies. Information has also been disseminated to DARDNI, UFU, AgriSearch, AFBI, local ministers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic, namely Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mary Coughlan TD and former direct rule Agriculture and Environment minister Lord Rooker.
In each case, the new technologies seen in Europe and America were discussed with emphasis being placed on the need for their application to the Irish situation. By presenting to these influential people, it is hoped that Irish farmers will be brought up to date with current European best practice to improve farm profitability in the region.
Presentations have also been given by the project partners at both local and international conferences to describe the work carried out by the project and the advances in technology development made.
It was felt that the application of some of the technologies viewed on the field trips could prove difficult in Ireland due to the lack of technical knowledge surrounding the construction and operation of the treatment facilities. It was concluded that the research focus for the project would be the treatment of slurry on a farm scale with the use of pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion.
Building on the knowledge and expertise of each of the project partners, a two-year programme of research began to apply this technology to Irish agriculture. With researchers employed and project managers in place in both Omagh campus and IT Sligo, work commenced to assess the economic viability of slurry treatment in the ICBAN region looking at factors such as the total production of farm wastes, legislation surrounding their management, their areas of production, energy and nutrient contents as well as factors such as cost of transportation and electricity supply prices for on farm renewable energy production.
Through carrying out this research, issues such as the Nitrates Directive have also been investigated with its potential effect on the ICBAN regions agricultural sector being analysed through the use of computer mapping software.
Having now developed a knowledge base for the agricultural situation in the ICBAN region, the project partners have applied this in several areas one of which is the newly developed Foundation Degree in Rural Sustainability at Omagh College, within which, year three's Waste Management module is directly related to the findings of the NWEEC research programme. This link between research and education helps to both disseminate the information surrounding the project and increase the knowledge base in the region.
An Environmental Entrepreneurs course has also been run by Omagh College consisting of local business men and women from the border counties who were interested in environmentally based business start ups.
The findings of the NWEEC project were presented to this class with several of the participants looking further into the new technologies for farm waste management following the presentation. To make students aware of the research activities at IT Sligo, presentations concerning the research techniques used and the results obtained have been delivered to students and staff.
For the future, the NWEEC waste management project hopes that at least one of these technologies will be constructed and operational in the ICBAN area with the site becoming a reference point for on-farm agricultural waste management with support being offered for replication on other farms in the region.
For further information contact Project Manager Dr John Moore at the South West College (028) 82245433 or e-mail john.moore@swc.ac.uk.
