Social Farming Ireland is the national office which is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the CEDRA Fund. Social Farming Ireland is based in Drumshanbo. Co. Leitrim and is led by Leitrim Development Company. It supports the development of a national Social Farming network in collaboration with other Local Development Companies, namely West Limerick Resources, Waterford Leader Partnership and South West Mayo Development Company where regional Social Farming development officers are based.
To date, Social Farming Ireland delivered over 6,300 placement days to approximately 790 participants on 77 social farms throughout the country.
National Advisory Committee
National Advisory Committee is comprised of Leitrim Development Company, CLG, University College Dublin, local development company representatives, service providers, participants and social farmers.
The Advisory Committee acts as a forum for the inclusion of a broad range of expert information, expertise and advice from national and international practitioners and sources. The SFPW Worker will act as support to this Committee and it will be chaired by Dr Jim Kinsella of UCD who has extensive experience of the models of social farming across Europe.
The Advisory Committee:
- Provides advice, practical support and consultancy to the project management team
- Comments on and reviews the progress, key outputs of the project work-packages
- Acts as a point of contact between the project and their own organization /institutions
- Provides access to informational and organisational resources where possible Suggests actions and measures to maximise and extend the ability of the project to deliver benefits
National Coordination Committee
The National Coordination Committee is comprised of the Social Farming Support Office team including the National Project Manager and National Project Coordinator, along with the CEO’s of each development company we sub contract to, our Regional Development Officers, our partners at UCD and representation from our Northern Ireland counterpart. The group meets bi-monthly and acts as a forum supporting and endorsing the work of the project to advance its aims.