Date: 26th & 27th May 2026

Time: See programme for details

Location: Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise, Co. Laois

It is our pleasure to invite you to Agriculture and Land-use in Ireland – Pathways to a Sustainable Future. This national technical conference will bring together over 150 researchers, students, policymakers, and industry representatives to address the future of farming and the environment. Covering themes from climate adaptation and greenhouse gas mitigation to biodiversity, soil health, water, quality, the bioeconomy and behavioural change, the conference offers a unique platform for knowledge exchange, networking, and collaboration to drive sustainable agricultural solutions. The conference brings together leading expertise in agriculture, land use and environmental research across Ireland.

This conference is organised by a partnership of Teagasc, AFBI, Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Maynooth University, Queens University Belfast, South East Technological University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Galway, University of Limerick and University of Ulster.

Conference Sessions

The conference will focus on the integrated area of agriculture, land-use and the environment. The conference will blend plenary papers with contributed papers in parallel sessions over the two days.

1.Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Session topics to include GHG mitigation measures, research that may have an input to inventory refinement, GHG emissions from various land-uses (e.g. grasslands, peat, forestry etc.), innovative technologies for mitigation, methods of measuring GHG emissions from agriculture and decision support tools.

2.Climate Adaptation

Session topics to include the impact of future climate on grassland, tillage and other land-use systems, the resilience of current management practices to future climate, future forage/crop varieties and the potential impact of future pests and disease.

3.Biodiversity

Session topics to include biodiversity enhancing farming practices; indicators of biodiversity at a variety of scales; digital tools for biodiversity and ecosystem function in Irish farming systems; co-benefits of biodiversity and agriculture; upland management and fire; practices to maintain extensive farming of grasslands and fens.

4.Soil Health

Session topics to include the relationship between soil health, land use agronomy, GHG emissions, biodiversity, the soil microbiome, the relationship between soil health and regenerative agriculture, soil-plant interaction and function.

5.Water Quality

Session topics to include understanding of system’s function for mitigation of pollutants, nature based solutions, fertiliser use efficiency and water quality modelling.

6.Bioeconomy

Session topics to focus on renewables including biobased fertilisers, anaerobic digestion, alternative feedstocks, alternative tillage systems (e.g. plant protein/fibre), carbon farming.

7.Behavioural Change

Session topics to include farmers’ motivations regarding change, innovation, succession planning and other topics that are driven by human behaviour, approaches to the design, development and/or evaluation of behaviour change extension, education or policy interventions environmental economics, environmental policy, barriers to adoption and just transition.

Key Dates

5th January: Abstract submission opens
5th January: Early bird registration opens
27th February: Abstract submission closes
20th March: Successful abstract submissions notified
31st March: Early bird registration closes
22nd May: Standard registration closes
22nd May: Dinner registration closes