More than 100 delegates from across Europe are expected to attend the Burren Winterage School in Corofin over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The conference begins on this Thursday and continues to Sunday, October 25. Its focus is on supporting high nature value (HNV) farming in Europe.
“More than 100 people are coming from Europe to Corofin for the school. It is a big event for North Clare and Corofin especially. This is our window to the world, in terms of Burren farming. It is an opportunity for the farmers here to show off what they do and to highlight the reasons we have programmes like BurrenLife in the first place,” Dr Brendan Dunford of the BurrenLife programme stated.
The Winterage School will hear from farmers from diverse landscapes across Europe and will include a variety of presentations by speakers about how farmers can be supported through better policy, research, funding, innovation, empowerment and networking.
“Many of the delegates will stay for the weekend and, hopefully, get to see the Winterage Cattle Drive, as part of the Burren Winterage Weekend on Sunday,” Dr Dunford added.
The cattle drive, where local farmers herd their cattle to their winter pastures on the Burren, is a highlight of the community-led Burren Winterage Weekend, which also takes place over the October Bank Holiday weekend.
By Nicola Corless
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.