Not only is John the Farm Advisor for the project, he is also the Knowledge Transfer Group Facilitator. The Knowledge Transfer Programme is an initiative from the  Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine that aims to increase the efficiency & effectiveness of the work of Irish farmers by encouraging continuous up-skilling and improvement. This will not only have huge benefits for individual farms, but for the agri food sector overall. 

John will be supporting the participating farms with their participation in the educational element of the Soil Biodiversity Project. John will also be completing the educational course, so he has hands on experience and knowledge of the course and will be in the best position to help and advise the participants.

John will be working with other members of the project’s operational group to structure and gather content for monthly group meetings. This can include organising guest speakers & trainers, checking that biosafety and health & safety protocols are adhered to at events, distributing learning materials and ensuring that the educational component of each meeting has been delivered to fully engaged participants and that the learning outcomes of events are tested.

This is a very comprehensive role, and vital to the aim of the Soil Biodiversity Project – to educate and train “Lighthouse Farms” so they can in turn inspire more farms to investigate soil biodiversity and put the tools and knowledge of how to build healthy, biodiverse soils in the hands of farmers around the country.

John is also a member of Leitrim Organic Farmers Coop and has been an orgnic farmer since 1998, farming rare breed cattle and sheep. You can follow Leitrim Organic via the links below.