1 st September 2009 1

The Inaugural Irish Rural Studies Symposium (IRSS) was hosted at Teagasc’ Mellows Campus,
Athenry, Co. Galway on September 1 st , 2009. Forty papers covering a variety of areas ranging from innovation and diversification of the rural economy to topics considering rural society and culture were presented by researchers and post-graduate students from Irish and international universities and research institutes. This event was the largest gathering of researchers engaged with rural issues in Ireland in 2009. The timing of the Symposium was fortuitous given the substantial changes rural communities are experiencing as a consequence of the current economic downturn. Presenters delivered the results of recently completed and on-going social science research exploring the impact, implications and possible futures of rural areas. The structure of the Symposium and details of the presentations are outlined below.
August 31 st
20.00
9.30
10.00
-
Informal gathering in the Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry
September 1 st
Registration and Coffee (Canteen)
10.00 -
11.30
Irish
Agriculture
11.30 –
12.00
Innovation &
Diversification
Society & Culture
(Session I)
Coffee
Well-being &
Lifestyle
12.00 -
13.30
Rural
Tourism
Food
Society & Culture
(Session II)
Stimulating,
Evaluating and
Monitoring Rural
Development
13.30 -
14.30
Lunch (Canteen)*
14.30 –
16.30
Institutions and Society
Adoption and
Behaviour
Energy and Natural
Resources
Gendered
Perspectives on
Rural society
*A short meeting will be held over lunch to discuss where IRSS 2010 will be held.
1 st September 2009 2

Within the programme only the speaker’s name is given. For a full list of authors associated with each paper please consult the Book of Abstracts.
Irish Agriculture Chair: Aideen McGloin
James Breen
Paul Smith
Aideen McGloin
Innovation and Diversification
Analysis of the Viability of Irish Farms – Baseline
Projections from the FAPRI-Ireland Farm Level model
Examining the relationship between production costs and managerial ability using Irish dairy farm data
Social Farming in Ireland: Exploring Approaches to
Network Building
Chair: Caroline Crowley
Kevin
Terry
Heanue
McFadden
Caroline Crowley
Schumpeterian Innovation, Rural Development and the LEADER Programme
Rural Development, Farm Diversification and
Innovation
Social structures and a transition to alternative agricultural pathways.
Rural Well-being and Lifestyle Chair: Cathal O’Donoghue
Cathal
Brian
Saoirse
Alan
O'Donoghue Rural Poverty
McGrath
Ni Gabhainn
Health Promotion: rural-urban youth and lifestyle, health and behavioural issues
Sloane
Rural Broadband – “Globally Connected and Locally
Disconnected”
1 st September 2009 3

Society & Culture (Session I) Chair: Anne Byrne
Anne
John
David
Byrne
Arensberg & Kimball - The Harvard Irish Survey in
Clare 1930-1935
Cunningham Irish herdsmen in the late 19th century
Stead Economic Change in West Cork since 1960
Rural Tourism Chair: Mary Cawley
Cathal Buckley
Anna
Pawlikowska-
Piechotka
Mary Cawley
Access to the countryside: Walking in Rural Ireland
Rural Tourism and Cultural Tourism
Adding value locally through a strategic approach to integrated rural tourism
Food Chair: Aine Macken-Walsh
Aisling
Jane
Aine
Murtagh
Ricketts Hein
Macken-
Walsh
The contemporary food movement: digging for victory or fighting a losing battle?
Measuring local food activity in Ireland: An ‘Index of food relocalisation’
Governance, The Culture Economy and Farmers’
Participation in Local Food Movements: an Irish Case-
Study
Society & Culture (Session II) Chair: Deirdre O’Mahony
Michael Murray
Mark Rylands
Deirdre O'Mahony
The imagery and language of rural planning in
Northern Ireland
The Cultural Implications of Field Boundary Removal in Ireland
New Ecologies between Rural Life and Visual Culture in the West of Ireland
1 st September 2009 4

Stimulating, Evaluating and Monitoring Rural Development Chair: David Meredith
David Meredith
Niamh Kenny
Pam Moore
Identifying the industrial and occupational structure of the rural economy in Ireland
Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development
Initiatives
Action to Strengthen Small European Towns
Institutions & Society Chair: Paul Keating
Murtagh
Thomas
Paul
Chris
Aisling
Kelly
Keating
McInerney
Maureen Maloney
The Community Impact of Credit Unions in Rural
Ireland
The Impact of Post Office Closures on Rural
Communities: A case study of Courtmacsherry, Co.
Cork
Analysing the implementation of rural development policy – exploring the contribution of an institutionalist analysis
Scratching Below the Surface: an Examination of
Clifden-based Voluntary Organisations
Gendered Perspectives on rural society
Tanya Watson
Chair: Nata Duvvury
Women’s Narratives in Ireland - From ‘Rural Women’ to
‘Women in the Countryside?’: Investigating Rural
Women’s Subjectivities, Identities and Agency for
Sustainable Development
Nata
Maria
Duvvury
Cathy
Cormac
Bailey
Sheehan
Feeney
Women’s Property Ownership and Domestic Violence:
An Exploration of Pathways of Protection”
‘I’m Lost’ and ‘I am Gay’: Different sides to social and emotional isolation among older men living in rural
Ireland
‘I love the people it’s the environment’: exploring the subjective suicidal experiences of rural men.
*Coffee will be served during these sessions
1 st September 2009 5

Adoption and Behaviour Chair: Helena O’Connor
Geraldine Murphy
Doris Laepple
Farmer participation behaviour in the Rural
Environment Protection Scheme
Adoption and Abandonment of Organic Farming
Dervla Murphy
O'Connor
ICT Adoption trends on Irish Farms
The Delphi method as a means of identifying early adopters in Irish agriculture Helena
Energy and Natural Resources Chair: Karyn Morrissey
Breffni Lennon
Daragh Clancy
Niall Farrell
Globalised Localities in Ireland's Modern Energy
Infrastructures
Assisting the decision to produce biomass crops through stochastic budgeting
Economic Evaluation of Ireland’s Marine Renewable
Energy Resource
Karyn Morrissey The Economics of the Marine Sector in Ireland
*Coffee will be served during these sessions
1 st September 2009 6

1 Breen
2 Buckley
3 Byrne
4 Cawley
5 Clancy
6 Crowley
7 Cunningham
8 Duvvury
9 Farrell
10 Feeney
11 Maloney
12 Heanue
21 Keating
13 Kelly
14 Kenny
15 Laepple
16 Lennon
17 Macken-Walsh
18 McFadden
19 McGloin
20 McGrath
22 Meredith
23 Moore
24 Morrissey
25 Murphy
26 Murphy
27 Murray
28 Murtagh
29 O'Connor
30 Murtagh
31 O'Donoghue
32 O'Mahony
33 Pawlikowska-Piechotka
34 Ricketts Hein
35 Rylands
36 Bailey
37 Smith
38 Sloane
39 Stead
40 Watson
Deirdre
Anna
Jane
Mark
Cathy
Paul
Alan
David
Tanya
Thomas
Niamh
Doris
Breffni
Aine
Terry
Aideen
Brian
David
Pam
Karyn
Dervla
Geraldine
Michael
Aisling
Helena
Aisling
Cathal
James
Cathal
Anne
Mary
Daragh
Caroline
John
Nata
Niall
Maria
Maureen
Kevin
Paul
Teagasc
Teagasc
NUI Galway
NUI Galway
Teagasc
UCC
NUI Galway
NUI Galway
NUI Galway
Teagasc
NUI Galway
Teagasc
Tipp Inst
UCC
EXODEA
Teagasc
UCC
Teagasc
UCD
UCD
NUI Galway
Teagasc
ECOVAST (UK)
Teagasc
Teagasc
Teagasc
QUB
UCC
UCC
UCC
Teagasc
University of Brighton
(UK)
ITR (Poland)
UCC
UCC
NUI Galway
Teagasc
UCC
UCD
Teagasc
1 st September 2009 7

Analysis of the viability of Irish farms – Baseline projections from the FAPRI-Ireland Farm Level model
James Breen 1 , Emma Dillon 1 , Thia Hennessy 1 and Fiona Thorne 2
1 Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
2 Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Kinsealy
This paper presents a discussion of the current and future viability of Irish farms. Initially, by applying a framework developed by Frawley and Commins (1996), farms from the 2008
Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) are classified into one of three categories viable, sustainable or vulnerable. Viability, in its strictest business definition, is the ability of a business to cover its costs of production and to provide a return on the capital invested. The economic sustainability of the farm household refers to the economic status of the household rather than the business. It is possible that farms that are not economically viable may be sustainable due to the presence of other income in the household. Those farms that are neither viable nor sustainable are classified as being economically vulnerable. The vulnerable category is further disaggregated into vulnerable poor demography and vulnerable good demography. This disaggregation based on demography allows us to provide some insight into the ability of the household to adjust their position by taking an off-farm job or by improving the profitability of the farm household. By utilizing baseline projections from the FAPRI-Ireland Aggregate Level model we also examine the future viability of Irish farmers in 2018 assuming no change in current agricultural policy. The potential impact of macro-economic factors including the availability of off-farm employment on the sustainability of Irish farms is also discussed.
1 st September 2009 8

Examining the relationship between production costs and managerial ability using Irish dairy farm data
Paul Smyth 1/2 , Laurence Harte² and Thia Hennessy¹
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
2 University College Dublin, Ireland.
Using data from the National farm survey, the paper examines the relationship between managerial ability and production costs on Irish dairy farms from 1994-2007. Data from over
400 dairy farms in Ireland over a period of 14 years is examined. The objective of this paper is to use historical data to quantify the economic benefits of managerial ability on Irish dairy farms. Previous studies have determined the role of economies of scale in the reduction of production costs on Irish dairy farms. Results illustrated that increasing yield per cow and stocking rate decreases costs implying that scale and improving efficiency is key to reducing cost. Results also suggested that various farm and farmer characteristics, including unobservable individual effects have a significant effect on production costs. This paper sets out to quantify these individual effects by composing managerial ability variables and imputing them in a panel model. Factors such as dairy, grass and financial management are used with the above scale efficiencies to determine if they play a role in the reduction of costs of production.
1 st September 2009 9

Social Farming in Ireland: Exploring Approaches to Network Building
Aideen McGloin 1 , Deirdre O’Connor 1 , Jim Kinsella 1 and Stephen Hynes 2
1 School of Biological & Environmental Sciences, University College Dublin, Ireland
2 Economics Department, University College Galway
Social Farming is an emerging phenomenon across Europe, it has the potential to offer solutions to public service provision in rural areas and to re-connect farmers with their community and wider society; consequently it may be seen as a dimension of multifunctional agriculture. Social Farming has emerged from a confluence of issues around this role of agriculture; challenges of social service provision in rural areas and the demands of people that use services for the right to choose services that fulfil their needs.
Social Farming is based on the recognition that working with animals, plants, soil and being in contact with nature has special value for peoples’ wellbeing. It is being utilised as a service option for people with mental health difficulties, people with disabilities (intellectual, physical and sensory), drug/ alcohol rehabilitation services, prisoner rehabilitation services, services for older people, therapeutic activities for children etc. In many countries social care providers have linked with private farmers to offer this service- the opportunity to spend time on farms.
In Ireland, the concept of Social Farming is not readily understood or known, however, the practice of utilising agriculture/ horticulture within or in close association with Irish social care services is a long established one. This research has brought together stakeholders from the fields of agriculture, rural development, health, social services and academia within a single forum. This paper will discuss the challenges of facilitating such a diverse group of stakeholders with the shared aim of developing Social Farming in Ireland. A dedicated network for the promotion of Social Farming has the potential to address the pertinent issues of project isolation; development of a critical mass; sharing of experiences; opportunity creation through shared action and to create a coherent contribution to policymaking. In this paper, two potential approaches will be discussed, a policy network vs. a
Community of Practice model assessing which can best serve the needs of these stakeholders.
1 st September 2009 10

Schumpeterian Innovation and Rural Development: Implications for the LEADER Programme
Kevin Heanue
Rural Economy Research Centre, Athenry
Innovation is increasingly viewed as a critical driver of economic growth and development – whether in urban or rural areas – and indeed the notion of innovation is regularly invoked in the rural development literature, rural development programmes and policy debates. The current LEADER programme in Ireland, for example, places innovation at the centre of its strategy. However, in practical terms, operationalising, identifying and promoting innovation is difficult. This paper explores whether the decision criteria used to assess funding applications to the current LEADER programme in Ireland is constructed in such a way that all sound innovative proposals have the same likelihood of being approved for funding.
This exploratory paper has three main parts. The first part outlines Joseph Schumpeter’s
(1934) concept of innovation. The implications of key elements of his conceptualisation of innovation such as creative destruction, entrepreneurship, and disruptive technologies for rural development processes generally and rural development programmes specifically are explored. In another part of the paper, the evolution of the LEADER programme to its present emphasis on the importance of innovation for rural development is briefly traced.
The next part of the paper juxtaposes Schumpeter’s notion of innovation against the decision criteria used to assess funding applications to the current LEADER programme in
Ireland. The implications of this exercise for 1) changing the decision criteria used for
LEADER funding applications, 2) the likelihood of the LEADER programme approving all sound innovative applications submitted to it for funding and 3) our understanding of innovation in rural areas, are outlined.
1 st September 2009 11

Rural Development, Farm Diversification and Innovation
Terry Mc Fadden, Mark Scott & Alun Jones
School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy, UCD, Dublin.
The development of on-farm complimentary diversification activities is a necessity for the long-term viability and survival of EU farm businesses. Central to this process is the generation and mobilisation of innovative ideas by farm householders. Such innovation offers tremendous micro-, meso- and macro-economic benefits to local rural economies and, concurrently, great potential to establish farming practices and production methods which reflect the increasing societal concerns for conservation, landscape protection and quality food production. However, little rigorous examination has taken place of the nature and the operation of the linkages between farm households and rural institutions in the emergence and sustenance of on-farm innovative diversification. Of central concern to this research is the recognition that politicians and policy practitioners are aware of the changing character of rural/agricultural economies apparent in recent policy changes at the supranational EU levels. Subsequent reforms of Agenda 2000 and the CAP, and the reshaping of the central tenants of the latter through the introduction of a ‘second pillar’, has radically recast EU policy and local/regional governance structures devolving more decision-making responsibilities to the local level. The Rural Development Regulation (EC
1257/99) has specifically foregrounded a new role for farmers in environmental management, landscape protection and responsibility of practice. The growing complexity, dynamism and openness of Irish rural economies now strongly suggest the presence of an evolutionary bias in all facets of farm development. These factors form the scientific rationale for this research on innovation and diversification centred on the farm household.
1 st September 2009 12

Social structures and a transition to alternative agricultural pathways.
Caroline Crowley
Department of Geography, University College Cork
This presentation explores the influence of social structures on the potential for and resistance to transitions to alternative agricultural pathways in Ireland. In doing so, it poses two questions: how do social structures influence farming identities and agricultural practices and; what is the potential for a shift to alternative forms of agriculture (e.g., organics) in the context of a conventional agricultural sector and traditional farming identities? It searches for answers through an assessment of the influence of four social structures in particular on farming identities, namely: the family, the community, the farm industry and the state. These influences on farming identities are drawn out from in-depth, semi-structured interviews in 2008 with farm family sons and daughters, aged 18 to 42 years, from both conventional and organic family farms in one commercial and one marginal farming region in Ireland, that explore their experiences of family, schooling, farming as well as their future life/career plans.
The project is funded by IRCHSS under the Postgraduate Research Scholarship Scheme
(2007-2010).
1 st September 2009 13

Labour Force Participation & Monetary poverty in Ireland: An Urban/Rural Comparison
1 /2 Karyn Morrissey, 1 Cathal O’Donoghue, 3 Joanne Banks
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
2 Economics Department, University College Galway
3 Economic and Social Research Institute
Accounts of the extent and distribution of poverty in rural Ireland are often complicated by problems of defining poverty and locating the poor. Over the last 30 years attempts to map poverty have been hindered by the use of aggregate data for large spatial units which have tended to conceal poverty at local level. This paper provides an insight into poverty distribution in rural Ireland by mapping both labour force participant (LFP) and income poverty at micro level. It uses data produced by the Simulation Model for the Rural Irish
Economy (SMILE) based on combined data from the 2001 Living in Ireland Survey and the
2002 Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS). This paper argues that a profile of LFP & income poverty in rural Ireland can be achieved through the use of small area estimation maps. These maps in turn can deepen our understanding of the determinants of poverty and lead to improvements in the design of policies tailored to local conditions. Results show regional disparities of income levels throughout the country and highlight the potential of small area estimation maps in mapping not only LFP & monetary poverty but deprivation and social exclusion.
1 st September 2009 14

Health Promotion: rural-urban youth and lifestyle, health and behavioural issues
Brian McGrath 1 and Saoirse NicGabhainn 2
1 School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway, Ireland
2 Health Promotion Department
There has some notable interest and concern expressed in recent years surrounding the lives of young people. Is it argued there are more risks and demands on young people growing up, which have implications for the quality of their lives. In this presentation, we provide data from the latest (2006) Health Behaviour in School Age Children (HBSC) study – a data set of over 10,000 children and adolescents in Ireland as part of a wider WHO study of youth in 41 countries – to examine if there are particularities and patterns associated with growing up in the countryside. Our focus will be on aspects of young people’s lifestyles, which include their connections with friends, leisure activity and time spent in physical activity, involvement in clubs, and risk related behaviours, such as alcohol and drug use. Our analysis provides systematic evidence surrounding patterns of behaviour among contemporary young people in rural and farm contexts (with comparison to their urban counterparts); and raises questions and considerations for further research.
1 st September 2009 15

Rural Broadband – “Globally Connected and Locally Disconnected”
Alan Sloane 1
1 Dept of Food Business & Development, University College Cork
This project attempts to determine how the provision of broadband communications in rural areas affects the local society and economy. Many effects have been ascribed to information and communication technologies (ICT) but, being a technology that modifies modes and potentialities of communication, Broadband's principal effects may best be seen through changes in the structures and patterns of social and economic interaction. Social Network
Theory therefore provides a natural framework for the project.
ICT, and Rural Broadband in particular, may have highly differential effects. It may even increase inequality and promote stratification in rural society, contrary to the hopes of many researchers and policy planners. For example local individuals or businesses which are already well-connected in economic and financial networks and which are already possessed of educational, financial and technological capability may be disproportionately benefited and may be thus enabled to increase their access to local resources. As another example, the provision of broadband may motivate urban-based business owners to relocate to rural areas because they perceive those areas to offer a higher personal “quality of life”, but consequently raise housing costs and force local young people to migrate from their native area. Thus, although some residents and enterprises might benefit, the net effect might not be positive for the rural economy.
The project is inherently interdisciplinary in nature and draws on theory, empirical data sources and methodologies from economics, sociology and geography. A distinguishing methodological feature of the project is its use of a Mixed Methods paradigm, which integrates a quantitative element from Social Network Analysis together with qualitative and deductive approaches.
The project is funded by IRCHSS under the Postgraduate Research Scholarship Scheme
(2007-2010).
1 st September 2009 16

Arensberg & Kimball:
The Harvard Irish Survey in Clare 1930-1935
Anne Byrne 1
1 School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway, Ireland
(Re)Telling Our Own Story: Rinnamona Research Group meet Arensberg and Kimball
This is a story of a rural community, an artist and a sociologist working collaboratively with stories and visual representations of family and community life beginning with Arensberg and Kimball’s classic anthropological narrative Family and Community in Ireland. We investigate the power of “small stories” to interrupt dominant narratives and their capacity to be transformatory for community identity. The implication for verbal and visual narrative practices is explored through creative community collaboration.
This study is part funded by IRCHSS Senior Research Fellowship Scheme 2006/7
1 st September 2009 17

Irish herdsmen in the late 19th century
John Cunningham 1
1 School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway, Ireland
Irish herdsmen, according to one observer, formed ‘a class quite distinct from any employed in any of the English districts, being neither shepherds nor bailiffs and yet a compound of both.’ They were especially numerous in counties Galway, Roscommon and Meath, where they were employed mainly by large-scale graziers and landlords. Highly-responsible workers, they were liable for damage to the stock they superintended, whether such damage was caused by ‘hogs, bogs, dogs, or thieves’, in the herdsmen’s own phrase. This paper will describe their anachronistic working conditions, examine the efforts of the Herds’
Leagues through which they defended their position during the land war, and consider the circumstances in which they became farmers in their own right.
1 st September 2009 18

Economic change in West Cork since 1960
David R. Stead 1
UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin
This paper analyses the remarkable economic changes that have occurred in a rural Irish sub-county region over the past two generations. In 1960, West Cork’s economy was clearly dependent on small-scale, low-productivity agriculture and overwhelmingly experiencing long-term decline. From the late 1980s the area began to be revitalized, reflected in, inter
alia, a rapid reversal of long-standing depopulation and growth of employment in the service sector. A key trigger of regeneration was the direct and indirect impacts of an extraordinary national macroeconomic ‘long boom’ during 1986-2007. Other factors, including local enterprise initiatives such as the Fuchsia regional branding scheme, also enhanced development. Preliminary econometric analysis of the determinants of intercensal growth rates of total numbers at work across the study area at the electoral division level provides additional insights into the causes of the turnaround in prosperity. For example, growth in numbers at work appears to have been statistically significantly higher in electoral divisions located on the coast. West Cork has, though, been adversely affected by the current sharp recession, indicated by a steep acceleration in numbers signing on the Live
Register at the social welfare offices in the area from September 2008. Moreover, there remains a persistent division between the relatively affluent east of the region and the less prosperous west.
1 st September 2009 19

Access to the countryside: Walking in rural Ireland
Cathal Buckley 1
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry.
Public access to the countryside for recreational walking is a contentious issue in the
Republic of Ireland. All land in the Republic of Ireland is owned either by private individuals or state bodies and recreational users do not have a de-facto legal right of entry. A right to roam or an everyman’s right of access which is applicable in other EU countries does not prevail. This is potentially a serious constraint on the development of recreation and nature based tourism in the Republic of Ireland. Special interest activity tourism is recognised and targeted as a key development area by the Irish Tourism authorities. The Republic of
Ireland’s best and most highly regarded walks are located in mostly rural regions of low population densities where local economies have been in stagnation due to the decline in agriculture. It is clear that the Republic of Ireland is not maximising its potential in the recreational walking market. A debate is currently raging in Ireland about access to the countryside and how this can be improved to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders. This paper discusses whether a policy intervention that promotes increased provision of this environmental public good is justified based on a non-market estimation of landowners’ willingness to engaged with the activity, potential opportunity costs to agriculture and the value consumer place on the provision of this good.
1 st September 2009 20

Rural communities and cultural tourism (Czersk, Poland)
Anna Pawlikowska-Piechotka 1
1 Institute of Tourism & Recreation, AWF University, Warsaw, 00 968 Warsaw; 34 Marymoncka
Street, Poland
Introduction - the development of non-agricultural activities in rural areas: The spatial configuration of rural settlement units In Poland is a varied one, reflecting the past and tradition, having different economic and political historical background. In 2000 there were
56 786 rural localities, this settlement network is complex and In the last two decades New social and economic processes have been observed in connection with re-establishing market economy. Accordingly to the Central Statistical Office in Poland data - at present the structure of the rural population by profession is dominated by the group employed in agriculture (4 200 000, it is 25% of the national Labour force). Accordingly to National
Development Plan the share taken by those employed in agriculture should be of much lower value (limited to 16%-15%).
Research Questions and Methods - Czersk Castle (2007-2008): Our research (DS- 24/AWF
Warsaw, supported by Ministry of Science and Education, Poland) involved observing cultural tourism development in the setting of medieval castle and museum in Czersk, the rural settlement of 2 000 inhabitants, located near Warsaw. Focus was on the interactions between local community, local authorities and tourists. Our intention was to understand theoretical and practical aspects of cultural tourism in rural settlements. The question was how to shape a sustainable tourism with cultural and social values of environment protection - equally concerned.
Conclusion and Discussion: The change from a centrally-steered to a market economy provided favourable conditions for the development of non-agricultural activity in rural areas. Our research material and case study of Czersk (near Warsaw) proofs, that one of the answers for generating income by non-agricultural business could be cultural tourism. Rural and cultural tourism is a rapidly-developing sphere of economic activities not only in Czersk, but also in other settings of tourist attractions in Mazovia Region. As each rural settlement space and its community have individual values, the complexities of sustainable rural tourism development and its responsible management require a broad range of theoretical and field studies at each site in question exclusively.
1 st September 2009 21

Adding value locally through a strategic approach to integrated rural tourism
Mary Cawlay 1
1 Department of Geography, NUI Galway, Ireland
The social and economic negativities arising from the restructuring of rural economies during the past two decades continue to impinge on individual entrepreneurs and rural society more generally. Considerable attention is given by national and international policy makers to finding appropriate methods of compensating for the decline in primary activities by using cultural, economic, environmental and social resources in innovative ways. Tourism was identified as having a potentially important role to play in this context, at an early stage, because many features of landscape and society that serve to limit agricultural productivity are attractive to so-called ‘postmodern’ tourists who seek an antidote to the pressures associated with their urban-based working lives. The quest continues, however, to find the most effective methods of promoting forms of rural tourism that maximise returns to local economies whilst minimising potentially negative impacts on culture, environment and society. This paper suggests that a strategic approach is necessary which includes both appropriate development structures and types of resource use. The paper draws on the concepts of ‘added-value’ and ‘strategic fit’, developed by Porter (1990, 1996) in the context of the firm. It also draws on a wide range of literature relating to rural tourism in practice in order to identify forms of resource use that are conducive to the integration of culture, economy, environment and society.
1 st September 2009 22

The contemporary food movement: Digging for victory or fighting a losing battle?
Aisling Murtagh 1
1 Department of Food Business and Development, O’Rahilly Building, University College Cork
Academic observers of off-centre activities in the food system, such as farmers’ markets and community gardens, have described contemporary developments as an opposing force aiming to change the fundamental nature of how our food is predominantly supplied. The re-establishment of connections between producers and consumers is said to create social, economic and environmental benefits, on many levels, local, national and international.
However, others have questioned the extent to which such initiatives can oppose and fundamentally change how our food system operates. This paper will not assess the successes and failures of alternative approaches to food supply. Rather, it will take a fresh look at the sector by beginning to explain the nature and dynamics of alternative food activities through the guise of a social movement. Social movements are described as prime agents of social change and explaining the nature of Ireland’s contemporary food movement in this way will help understand the effects it might potentially have. Particular focus will lie with the question of if an overarching set of concerns exist between members of the movement and if there is a strong sense of solidarity or internal conflicts within the movement. Solidarity is thought to be a key factor in strengthening movements and the potential effect they might have in challenging dominant systems.
1 st September 2009 23

Measuring local food activity in Ireland:
An ‘index of food relocalisation’
Jane Ricketts Hein 1
1 Geography Department, University College Cork
As interest in ‘local’ and ‘alternative’ food systems continues to grow, rigorous evidence showing where in Ireland such systems are developing is largely absent. This paper describes a tool already used to measure activities related to ‘local’ systems of food production and retailing in England, Wales and Scotland – an ‘Index of food relocalisation’.
This has now been adapted to assess the situation in Ireland, but with the inclusion of a measure of food consumption, as well as production and retailing. Thus a ‘geography of local food’ is presented.
1 st September 2009 24

Governance, Rural Development & Farmers’ Participation in Local Food Movements: an Irish case-study
Aine Macken-Walsh 1
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
Similar to how industrial forms of agriculture are synonymous with the productivist development model, distinctive forms of rural economic activity have become mainstream with contemporary governance and rural development programmes. These forms of economic activity, which concentrate to a large extent on high value-added food production and tourism activities, and the valorisation of natural resources, are evident across much of the EU and arguably represent a new status quo in the rural economy. As exponents of the post-industrial and post-productivist economy, it is accepted that many of the economic activities that are in line with the contemporary rural development agenda (as supported by the EU LEADER programme, for example) do not have a mainstream agriculture ‘tag’. In the bureaucratic and academic literatures, the ‘newness’ of the knowledge-based culture economy continues to be emphasised, as if in reflection of the persisting challenges involved in the transition from ‘labour and material value to design value’ (Ray, 2000). Furthermore, as policy conflations of rural areas as sites for agricultural production are continuingly broken, emerging phenomena such as the ‘spectacularisation’ of consumption have given rise to what some have recognised as ‘an artificial separation’ between consumption and production (Pratt, 2004). Reflecting on such theses, this paper presents an Irish case-study that explores the socio-cultural factors that frame ‘conventional’ farmers’ engagement in
‘alternative’ local food movements that have gained prominence within the context of the contemporary rural development agenda.
1 st September 2009 25

THE IMAGERY AND LANGUAGE OF RURAL PLANNING IN NORTHERN IRELAND
Michael Murray
Institute of Spatial and Environmental Planning, Queen’s University Belfast
Rural planning and development in Northern Ireland have long had to deal with a suite of public policy-related tensions that surface as: Northern Ireland and island of Ireland / UK relationships; west of the River Bann versus east of the River Bann (a geographical metaphor for expressing a perceived predominantly nationalist and rural periphery located beyond a unionist urban core); countryside development versus landscape protection; rural versus urban; top-down bureaucratic prescription versus bottom-up citizen-led involvement in the policy process; and departmental independence within the business conventions of a long established and powerful regional Civil Service code vis a vis local authority assertiveness.
The deeper issues that these represent are about the persistence of seemingly intractable ethno-religious divisions, spatial and social equity, how the rural is perceived, the relative weight to be given to new alignments of participatory and representative democracy, and the acceptable shape of public administration in Northern Ireland. There is, in short, an ongoing struggle to be heard and seen in different modes of spatial planning for rural areas.
Accordingly, plans and planning policy statements are significant moments in the processes of decision-making and action and often convey different messages to varying audiences.
These documents draw on dogma, metaphors and rhetoric, and combine carefully chosen visual and written formats to win legitimacy and connectedness with multiple constituencies. Lines, zones and symbols are placed on maps, and particular perspectives are included or not included in plan texts, while the documentation can seek to secure the representation of selected political preferences along with the achievement of hidden objectives. This presentation will demonstrate how across time and at different spatial scales the rural has been interpreted and represented by planners in Northern Ireland. The paper has relevance to understanding shifts in planning theory and practice from the 1960s through to the present day (say from technocratic control to consensus-building) and contributes to the wider debate around whose interests are being served in the contested arena of rural planning.
1 st September 2009 26

The Cultural Implications of Field Boundary Removal in Ireland
Mark Rylands and. Ray O’Connor
Department of Geography, University College Cork
Ireland’s agricultural landscape has changed significantly since accession to the European
Union (EU). Ireland’s distinctive bocage landscape evolved over millennia and fields and their boundaries were highly stable entities. However, with the advent of the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP), a new ethos emerged and farming became intensive, specialised and mechanised. CAP’s objectives of greater productivity, specialisation and mechanisation, meant that the field boundaries that had evolved to serve the needs of earlier times, became obstacles to progress and modernisation.
Since 1973 field boundaries have been removed as economies of scale have favoured the emergence of larger fields and farms and an estimated 20% of field boundaries, primarily internal farm boundaries, have been removed. While the majority of previous studies on hedgerow and field boundary removal have focused on the loss of biodiversity and the negative environmental and ecological implications of these landscape changes, this paper approaches the topic from a cultural perspective.
Part of a highly localised oral tradition, field names were passed from one generation to the next. With the removal of field boundaries, the unrecorded and undocumented field names, have been forgotten and have slowly disappeared. While having no immediate, obvious, intrinsic value, many of the field names can reveal clues as to inter alia past land use, land ownership, local geology and settlement forms. Using evidence based on research conducted in South Tipperary, Ireland, this paper examines how the CAP as well as altering the physical landscape has altered the cultural landscape by removing a cultural layer from
Irish agricultural heritage.
1 st September 2009 27

New Ecologies between Rural Life and Visual Culture in the West of Ireland: History, Context, Position, and Art
Practice.
Deirdre O’Mahony
School of Arts and Communication, University of Brighton
The X-PO project was set up to test whether modes of trans-disciplinary visual inquiry could serve as an enquiry into location, an interrogation into the mechanics of belonging, and a reflection upon the bottom up- local/rural to the national/global, and , looked to extend this discourse into the stresses affecting the social ecology of a local community, particularly regarding the relationship between locals and incomers.
The opportunity to rent a defunct post office in the parish of Kilnaboy offered a uniquely relevant site for this research. The rural post-office used to represent a community contact point. The one at Kilnaboy was run by a man called Mattie Rynne, short-wave radio enthusiast and self-taught linguist, and was permanently closed in 2002. The project has documented and archived the contents of this site: empty and derelict since closure and began the process of creating a local history archive. The space, now open and functioning, is in active use for arts led projects and community events.
By renovating and activating this resource/ space the intention was to allow for reflection and consideration about ways in which to move on from a legacy of conflict that surfaced during a long divisive environmental dispute, fifteen years ago, at a local mountain called
Mullaghmore. Representations of the west as romantic, sacred ‘other,’ neutered heritage, detached and dislocated from the complex realities of rural life further complicate matters, resurfacing regularly in media representations of the west as a rustic, ‘authentic’, uniquely
Irish, space.
1 st September 2009 28

Identifying the industrial and occupational structure of the rural economy in Ireland
David Meredith
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Kinsealy
This paper seeks to develop a better understanding of the spatial structure of Ireland’s economy through an analysis of the relationships between physical elements and activity patterns as represented by the journey from home to work. Working on behalf of the NESC,
Commins and Keane (1994) highlighted the role of space and spatial relations in shaping rural development processes and trajectories. Their analysis of population change and economic restructuring focused attention on the functional integration of urban and rural areas in Ireland. At the time, due to data limitations, it was not possible to provide a detailed assessment of these interrelationships or of the flows within and between these functional areas. This prompted a call for greater research into the spatial structure of Ireland’s rural regions and the behaviours, taken here to mean travel-to-work patterns, within and between such spaces (Commins and Keane, 1994: 198). Recent years have seen the Central
Statistic Office (CSO) produce a number of datasets from the Census of Population that provide detailed micro-data pertaining to travel-to-work patterns in Ireland. The production of these data facilitates, for the first time in the Republic of Ireland, the identification of
TTWAs and the comprehensive analysis of these spaces called for by Commins and Keane
(1994).
The primary research question shaping this analysis aims to establish whether labour flows between different spaces are socially, economically or demographically differentiated and, if so, to explore the implication for rural areas. Empirical analysis identifies travel-to-work areas (TTWAs), profiles the industrial structure and occupational composition of these areas before applying a spatial typology of urban and rural areas. An evaluation of the extent and nature of labour flows between different spaces is undertaken. This assessment facilitates an exploration of the reflexive socio-economic processes that continually shape and reshape rural areas.
1 st September 2009 29

Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development Initiatives
Niamh Kenny and Bill
EXODEA Europe Consulting Limited
Over the past two decades rural Ireland has been the beneficiary of a raft of social and economic policy frameworks emanating from the European Union that have been designed to address issues identified as being challenging to rural society. These frameworks have informed the structure of national interventions that many intended beneficiaries have deemed irrelevant, or unwieldy.
This paper examines the role that systematic monitoring and evaluation processes have played in the design of a number of rural development initiatives. Particular observation has been made of the EU LEADER suite of programmes in Ireland. The paper considers what has been learnt through systematic monitoring and evaluation during the period 1991-2007, and how has this been captured in the new programmes.
The paper also examines how the application of monitoring and evaluation is being considered in Malta, a new EU Member State, in the context of the Rural Development
Programme.
The results that have emerged from the study indicate that the application of sound monitoring and evaluation processes is less than optimal, suggesting that considerable gains of efficiency and effectiveness would be obtained by a radical rethinking of the role of monitoring and evaluation in future Rural Development Initiatives.
The paper concludes by proposing that monitoring and evaluation should be repositioned within initiatives. Rather than being considered as a summative process occurring at the end of the initiative, formative evaluation as the default methodology should be designed into every programme, and at all levels.
1 st September 2009 30

Action to Strengthen Small European Towns
Pam Moore
European Council for the Village and Small Town
ECOVAST (European Council for the Village and Small Town) has been engaged since 2006 in
Project ASSET (Action to Strengthen Small European Towns). An EU policy gap exists for small towns and their hinterland, with them falling between large urban settlements, and very rural ones, and limited work has been done to identify the issues they face.
As part of the Project research has been undertaken, primarily through questionnaires. The first of these was sent to contacts in more than 30 countries in Europe, with 25 responses received, and these have been analysed, providing a wealth of information on small towns across Europe, the challenges they face, and their interaction, or lack of it, with the rural hinterland around them. The results highlight the complex issues which arise, with even the definition of a “small town” or “hinterland”, being a matter of debate.
In 2009, a second questionnaire was devised, and has to date been sent to 18 countries, resulting already in a 50% reply rate, with more anticipated. This questionnaire concentrates on the impact of the economic downturn, and seeks information on topics such as the problems being faced by small towns in different countries, whether there are threats to the surrounding landscape and heritage, and how the recession has affected the degree of town/ hinterland interaction and levels of migration.
This paper will describe the work done and in progress, and the author will invite interest in
Project ASSET from Ireland.
1 st September 2009 31

The Community Impact of Credit Unions in Rural Ireland
Ray O’Connor 1 , Carol Power 2 , Olive McCarthy 2 and Michael Ward 2
1 Department of Geography, UCC
2 Centre for Co-operative Studies, UCC
Credit unions play an important role in Irish rural community development by providing essential local financial services and by contributing resources to local development initiatives. Their ability to attract members across the socio-economic spectrum has been a critical factor in their success, increasing the resources available to them for reinvestment in their communities. However, if they are to sustain their contribution to community development, credit unions need to promote their community embeddedness as a key factor that differentiates them from conventional financial institutions. Based on in-depth case studies of 40 credit unions, this paper explores the nature of the impact of credit unions in rural communities in Ireland. It highlights the fact that the principle of social responsibility has been an integral part of the credit union ethos, resulting in the positive contribution of credit unions to their communities.
1 st September 2009 32

The Impact of Post Office Closures on Rural Communities: A case study of Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork
Tomás Kelly
Geography Department, University College Cork
Rural Ireland is in a state of flux and the retreat of services is posing a threat to regions that are declining and developing alike.The closure of Post Offices in particular is presenting numerous problems to policy makers, service operators and rural communities both in
Ireland and internationally. With a European Union postal directive pending that intends on opening the postal sector to competition by 2010, it is likely that the trend for Post Offices to centralise will continue. In spite of this, there is a puacity of research conducted on rural post offices and the effects of their closures. This paper discusses the preliminary results of a research project in progress that is investigating the impact of the closure of a post office on a rural community in Courtmacsherry, West Cork.
1 st September 2009 33

Analysing the implementation of rural development policy – exploring the contribution of an institutionalist analysis.
Chris McInerney, Paul Keating and Ciaran Lynch
Sustainable Rural Development Department, Tipperary Institute
The study of the development of rural areas takes place within a variety of disciplines - economics, sociology, geography, agricultural science to name a few. However, it could be argued that political science has paid less than adequate attention to rural development and, in particular, to the processes , contradictions and dilemmas of decision making as they affect the development of rural areas. This paper seeks to address this deficiency by contributing an institutionalist analysis of how rural development policy has been developed and implemented in Ireland over the past 20 years. The particular contribution of an institutionalist analysis is not just to focus on organisations as institutions but to scrutinise the web of informal institutional arrangements and the norms and values associated with them. In particular, an institutionalist analysis throws light on how “institutions embody and shape societal values which may themselves be contested and in flux” (Lowndes 2002:100).
Moreover, in a public policy context, an institutionalist analysis contributes to understanding change and change potential and locates the role of institutions in embodying and preserving differences in power and the control of resources. Using an institutionalist framework, this paper examines national policy making in the area of rural development in
Ireland. In particular it focuses on the development and implementation of the Rural
Development Programme, the role of the public administration system and related issues of rural service delivery and efforts to strengthen local governance. Drawing on this analysis the paper identifies possible implications for the future of rural development policy in
Ireland.
1 st September 2009 34

Scratching Below the Surface: an Examination of Clifden-based Voluntary Organisations
Maureen Maloney
Department of Management, NUI, Galway
This research attempted to ‘scratch below the surface’ of one small town to tentatively identify the social networks formed between volunteers and organisations. In the first phase of the research, 42 members of three organisations were interviewed to begin the process of identifying Clifden-based voluntary organisations. In the second phase, interviews were conducted with the heads or PROs (Public Relations Officers) of 65 of the 68 organisations that are either based in Clifden or have a strong local presence.
Five distinct but overlapping forms of social networks were identified. First, overlapping memberships suggest that an individual, who is a member of two local organisations, may serve as a link or bridge between the two social networks encouraging other members to join. Second, because of multiple memberships within an organisation, the collective knowledge of the membership spans many organisations within and outside of the local community. Third, almost a quarter of the total memberships of Clifden-based organisations reside outside of the parish. People from outside of the locality that join
Clifden-based organisations are links to the social networks that are their communities.
Fourth, many organisations rely on peripheral participants or individuals who are not members but assist the organisation. This informal addition to an organisation’s social network expands its skills and competencies. Fifth, 95% of the Clifden-based organisations are involved with one or more other organisations including parent organisations, other voluntary organisations, NGOs and government departments. These inteorganisational social networks strengthen the local network and link the community to the region and the nation.
1 st September 2009 35

Women’s Narratives in Ireland - From ‘Rural Women’ to ‘Women in the Countryside?’: Investigating Rural
Women’s Subjectivities, Identities and Agency for Sustainable Development
Tanya Watson
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
University College Galway
With a growing emphasis on local resources and the diversification needs of rural households, women are active participants in shaping modern rural Ireland. This paper presentation will draw on preliminary findings of the PhD study Women’s Narratives in
Ireland - From ‘Rural Women’ to ‘Women in the Countryside?’: Investigating Rural Women’s
Subjectivities, Identities and Agency for Sustainable Development. The aim of the study is to explore the sociological context of women’s lived experiences in rural areas. The circumstances and choices that circumscribe women’s lives in rural Ireland inform how they see themselves in the rural context and what this means to them, how they are involved in local and national governance structures and organisations, how they are affected by rural policy agenda, and how gender relations are changing as a result.
Based on preliminary observations reached through several scoping exercises conducted in the initial stages of this study, this presentation will examine the diversity of women living in rural Ireland; women’s contribution to various aspects of rural life in Ireland; and the effects of patriarchal agrarian ideology on women’s livelihoods and identities.
1 st September 2009 36

Women’s Property Ownership and Domestic Violence: An Exploration of Pathways of Protection”
Nata Duvvury
School of Politicial Science and Sociology, NUI Galway
Asset ownership is widely discussed as a critical resource underpinning women's empowerment. Yet the specific impacts of property ownership in terms of household bargaining, improved ability to negotiate economic and social shocks, and expansion of social capital have been documented sparsely. In this paper we explore the impact of women¹s property ownership on the experience of domestic violence (a gender specific social shock) drawing on a study undertaken in eastern state of West Bengal in India. The paper presents quantitative and qualitative data to not only establish that property ownership is protective with respect to the experience of domestic violence but also to delineate the pathways by which women's ownership of property is in fact protective.
1 st September 2009 37

‘I’m Lost’ and ‘I am Gay’: Different sides to social and emotional isolation among older men living in rural
Ireland
Cormac Sheehan and Cathy Bailey
Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, University College Galway
In a recent national survey by Drennan et al. 2008, which examined the social and emotional loneliness among older adults in Ireland, found that social and family loneliness was low, but romantic and emotional loneliness was high among older adult living in Ireland. The authors identified that there were both social and economic stressor and life events that could be identified as predictors to social and emotional isolation. The findings indicate that loneliness for older people is variable, multi-dimensional and experienced differently according to life events, for example death of a spouse (Drennan et al. 2008). This paper using long term ethnographic methods explores such variables and multi-dimensional aspects of social and emotional isolation by drawing on two distinct, yet mutually familiar case studies. The first case study explores the life of an older man, who after a life-time of caring for his parents and wife finds himself ‘lost’ and without a system of social support from his community due to rural depopulation and death of his friends and neighbours. The second examines the life of a life-long carer, who only after the death of his parents, was he able to admit to himself that he was ‘gay’, only to find torment and ridicule from those living in his immediate rural community. Each of these case studies represent the variables of social and emotional loneliness, however, through the comparative gaze similarities emerge, suggesting that even in difference, commonalities are revealed, and therefore thematic categorization of social and emotional loneliness is achievable.
1 st September 2009 38

Rural Men and Suicide: Risks and Vulnerabilities
Maria Feeney
School of Sociology, UCD & Teagasc Walsh Fellow, RERC
This presentation derives from a Ph.D. study entitled 'Rural Men and Suicide: Risks and
Vulnerabilities' and focuses on how socio-economic change is implicated in men ’ s suicidal experiences. Durkheim (1897) hypothesises that ‘ crisis and upheaval ’ caused by social change, coupled with a rise in individualism (egoism), has the effect of increased societal predisposition to suicide. In the context of post-modern 'risk society' (Beck 1992), Bauman
(2006) elaborates how contemporary social structures are more reflexive and less solidified, contributing to a ‘ liquid society ’ . Loosening the construction of social structures, increased individualism and reflexivity reveal new sets of risks/dangers and individuals encounter new
‘ liquid ’ fears (Bauman 2007). The rationalisation and transformation of EU agricultural policy has incurred a transition towards post-modern economies of consumption which carries associated 'risks' of challenges to identities, meanings and norms (Macken-Walsh,
2009). In Ireland, it is acknowledged that transitions towards such economies have differently enfranchised and disenfranchised rural social groups. Drawing from qualitative interviews, this presentation explores how the fluidity of contemporary post-modern society as well as the rupture of traditional rural social structures are implicated in the suicidal experiences of men in the West of Ireland.
1 st September 2009 39

Farmer participation behaviour in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS)
Geraldine Murphy
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
Under the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS), farmers enter into a five-year contract with the Department of Agriculture and receive annual payments for farming in an environmentally benevolent manner. Participation in REPS is voluntary and every farmer in the country may join (DAFF 2009). According to standard (neoclassical) economic theory, farmers will only participate in REPS if it enhances their welfare. A prime facie assumption is that the extra income that farmers receive under REPS adds to their welfare, whereas the extra effort involved in meeting the conditions of REPS detracts from their welfare. These are assumed to be variously determined by the social characteristics of farmers and the structural characteristics of their farms.
Data in this paper come from the National Farm Survey (NFS) 2007. The NFS is carried out annually and gathers information relating to farming activities (Connolly, Kinsella et al.
2008). This paper investigates the importance of each of the sources of utility outlined above in farmers’ participation decisions. A maximum likelihood binary logit investigates how various demographic, economic and farm characteristic variables affect farmers’ decisions to participate in REPS. Also, multinomial logits look at why certain biodiversity undertakings, for which farmers receive equal payments regardless of their choice, are more appealing to REPS participants than others. We conclude that those farmers who did not participate in REPS did not do so because they deemed it would not enhance their welfare.
1 st September 2009 40

Adoption and Abandonment of Organic Farming: An Empirical Investigation of the Irish Drystock Sector
Doris Läpple
Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway and
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
Although the organic farming sector in Ireland is growing steadily, it remains small in comparison to other European countries. Due to the recent government target of having 5% of the agricultural area in organic farming by 2012, the organic farming sector is receiving more attention through changes in support payments and increased provision of agronomic advice. Furthermore, the adoption and possible abandonment of organic farming has yet received little attention in the literature. As time plays an important role in explaining farming decisions, a dynamic econometric framework, namely duration analysis, is used. The probability of entry to and exit of the organic drystock sector is modeled considering a wide range of economic and non-economic factors. Looking at the adoption decision, policy changes and prices levels over the years appear to have an impact. The empirical results also highlight the importance of environmental and risk attitudes, farming experience as well as influence of other organic farmers on the probability to adopt organic farming; whereas decisions to abandon organic farming appear to be mainly driven by economic and structural factors. Farmers who have an off-farm job are more likely to abandon organic farming and a more intensive farm system has a positive effect on staying organic.
1 st September 2009 41

Information and communication technology adoption trends on Irish farms
Dervla Murphy
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
A 2004 national survey found that Irish farmers were lagging behind the national population in terms of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) adoption. For farmers as businessmen, the ICT possibilities for improving farm management, communications and information access as well as the e-commerce opportunities available offer endless potential for achieving more productive and efficient farm businesses.
The purpose of this study is to establish the current status of ICT use by Irish farmers and to establish the factors that influence on-farm adoption of ICT. This information is needed to assist in developing tools and strategies to increase the uptake of ICT by farmers. To achieve this goal, questions on ICT adoption were added to the 2008 National Farm Survey (NFS) conducted by Teagasc. Similar questions had been carried in the 2004 NFS thus allowing progress to be assessed over four years.
The results show that 51% of Irish farmers had computer access in 2008 of which 40% used the computer for farm business purposes. Computer adoption was highest when farmers were aged between 35-49, married and where there was dependent children living in the household. Regarding computer adoption and utilisation for the farm business, dairy and tillage enterprises were most likely to use ICT. Farm size, Gross Output (GO) and Family Farm
Income (FFI) were found to be positively related to ICT use in the business. The results also show that when compared against other groups in society, Irish farmers are still following behind in terms of ICT adoption.
1 st September 2009 42

The Delphi method as a means of identifying early adopters in Irish agriculture.
Helena O’Connor and Nick Chisholm
Department of Food Business and Development, University College Cork.
The Delphi method is typically used to measure the level and speed of adoption of new and innovative technologies by consumers. More recently it has been used to gauge citizen responses to policy. This research used the methodology to create a profile of the early innovators and early adoptors in Irish agriculture with a view to directing policy and targeting support mechanisms.
The literature indicates that farmers have a lower discount rate as a consequence of the intergenerational transfer related to the family farm structure. One conclusion would be that there would be a greater tendency to invest in “green technologies”. In addition the vertical integration of the food supply chain through the co-operative mechanism- farmer ownership of processing and distribution; would indicate a likelihood that the lower discount rate would permeate up the chain and that gains would be recouped within the farm gate.
Findings indicate that there is a willingness amongst the agricultural community to engage in environmental protection however there is a priority on the provision of alternative revenue streams within the farm. In some cases this willingness extends to taking a proactive approach, while with others there will only be a reactive response. There is a perceived difficulty in stimulating investment in emissions reduction strategies, without a transparent and secure mechanism to deliver benefits within the farm gate. The most significant barrier to investment is the lack of information and lack of understanding amongst the farming community of the issues relating to environmental protection: agri-environmental measures are still perceived largely in terms of their income benefits.
1 st September 2009 43

Globalised localities in Ireland's modern energy infrastructures
Breffni Lennon
Department of Geography, University College Cork
Renewable energy technologies are increasingly advocated as posing a viable means of tackling climate change and reducing our current over-reliance on fossil fuels. At present, wind energy is recognised as the only technology that can make a meaningful contribution in the short-to-medium term. Despite this need for a radical technological shift in the way we produce electricity many onshore wind farms have proven to be controversial to local people, residing in the rural/upland areas where a majority of the turbines are sited.
Using Environmental Modernisation Theory as a framework within which to understand the processes which influence the successful, or otherwise, completion of onshore wind farms in counties Cork and Kerry, this presentation will also look at how these actions in turn feed back into the policy processes of national government. At present, Cork and Kerry contribute over 22% of Ireland’s total wind energy output, thus highlighting their importance in meeting Ireland’s EU obligations in tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions.
As one industry commentator has stated ‘…what happens in Cork/Kerry is pretty much representative of what happens in the country at large’ and therefore warrants attention if we are to understand how onshore wind farms will continue to be developed into the future within a broader, all-island context.
1 st September 2009 44

Assisting the decision to produce biomass crops through stochastic budgeting
Daragh Clancy 1, 2 , James Breen 1 , Fiona Thorne 1 and Michael Wallace 2
1 Teagasc, Rural Economy Research Centre, Athenry
2 University College Dublin, Ireland
The agronomic characteristics of willow and miscanthus make these crops highly susceptible to risk. This is particularly true in a country such as Ireland which has limited experience in the production of biomass crops. The lengthy production lifespan of these crops only serve to heighten the level of risk that affects key variables. The uncertainty surrounding the risky variables involved in producing willow and miscanthus, such as the costs of production, annual yield level and price, as well as the returns available from forgone enterprises make it difficult to accurately calculate the returns of such a project. In this analysis a stochastic budgeting model, which includes stochastic costs, yields, prices and estimated returns from four potentially superseded enterprises, is used to simulate the financial performance of willow and miscanthus projects over a 16 year planning horizon. The investment decisions are evaluated by cumulative distribution functions and by stochastic efficiency with respect to a function.
1 st September 2009 45

Economic Evaluation of Ireland’s Marine Renewable Energy Resource
Niall Farrell
Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
In order for Ireland to attain a sustainable electricity supply, taking advantage of its offshore renewable resource will be of great importance. The extent to which this resource can contribute to stated goals is less certain, with a number of constraints limiting impact.
Relative novelty of offshore devices, high capital cost and uncertain returns have the potential to create a significant shortfall in the required level of investment. Along with this, technical, economic and overall system constraints limit the economic and environmental impact of increasing levels of deployment. As part of this research, the Spatial
Microsimulation of the Irish Local Economy (SMILE) will be augmented to incorporate the
Irish electricity market. Using this framework of analysis, a number of constraints limiting the economic potential of Ireland’s offshore resource will be gauged, with the affects of renewable deployment assessed at a regional level.
1 st September 2009 46

The Economics of the Marine Sector in Ireland: Linking the Macro & the Micro
1 Karyn Morrissey and 2 Cathal O’Donoghue
1 Economics Department, University College Galway
2 Rural Economic Research Centre, Teagasc, Athenry
The aim of this paper is to provide a methodological framework for the economic analysis of the marine sector in Ireland at both the macro and micro level. It is currently estimated that the marine sector contributes approximately €3 billion to Irish GDP. However, in contrast to
European counterparts such as Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands the marine sector is greatly under-developed in Ireland. The marine sector is a diverse sector and includes a variety of sub-sectors including among others fisheries, shipping, seaweed cultivation, aquaculture and renewable energy. Of interest to current public policy is the role each of these sub-sectors in both the marine and the broader economy. As such, a methodology which combines a newly constructed input-output table for the marine sector and a CGE model will be formulated. This framework will provide a complete picture of the marine economy in Ireland and allow ‘what-if’ simulations through the adjustment of parameters within the CGE model at the aggregate level. Secondly, the aggregate model is linked to a microsimulation model at the small area level in Ireland. Linking the macro to the micro allows one to examine the economic influence of the marine economy at the individual level in Ireland. Furthermore, various what-if simulations may be run to examine the effect of changes in the marine sector (for example, an increase in renewable energy) at the individual and/or small area level.
1 st September 2009 47