Two projects on peat forestry and fruit and vegetables, led by researchers at University of Limerick (UL) have been granted over €3.52 million by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The two UL projects were among 21 recipients of research funding awarded via the department research call, which granted €22.3 million in total.
Announcing the research funding at a recent event at Farmleigh House, Minister of State with special responsibility for research and development, Martin Heydon remarked:
“This investment builds on the first tranche of projects that received funding last December. Taken together, these represent an overall investment of €46 million, the largest ever from a research call run by my department.
“This investment will help equip the Irish agriculture, food, forest and bioeconomy sectors with the science and technology they need to become even more sustainable and competitive into the future.”
Peat forestry project
PeatFor, a project assessing the management of peatland forestry for climate and biodiversity, was awarded a total €2.7 million in total, with just over €1 million of this allocated to UL Prof. Ken Byrne’s field of research.
Forests play a huge role in combating climate change due to their capacity to store carbon dioxide (CO2).
The researchers have said that considering 38% of Ireland’s forest are located on peatland, more research is required to assess their carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange facilities.
The peat project will consist of a series of field experiments which will form the basis of the analysis used to support national climate policy, international reporting requirements as well as the identification of sustainable emission pathways.
The impacts of forest management interventions on biodiversity, including rewetting and rewilding practices, will also be assessed and subsequently referenced during the design of future biodiversity initiatives.
The study’s collective results will be collated to form the backbone of a modelling framework designed to examine the current and future sustainability of peatland forestry.
Research funding
Safegreen, the second UL-led project which assesses the risk of foodborne pathogen contamination in fresh fruit and vegetables, received a total of €820,000 in funding, with €322,000 of this allocated to associate professor Achim Schmalenberger.
The research funding will be used to examine the proliferation of hazardous bacteria that permeates unprocessed fruit and vegetable grown in open environments and will be used to provide potential solutions to reduce its incidence.
“Practices across the agri-food, forest and bioeconomy sectors are always evolving and Ireland should be at the forefront of these developments,” Minister Heydon continued.
“A steady pipeline of new solutions is the cornerstone of increasing economic, environmental, and social sustainability and the next step is for the output of these projects to reach end-users such as farmers, advisors, policy makers and industry stakeholders.”