"Inside or Outside the Farm Gate?"

On April 10th and 11th, the West Cork LEADER Co-op hosted a national conference "Inside or Outside the Farm Gate?"  The conference analysed development opportunities for farm families and particular attention was paid to the success of the West Cork Regional Branding Initiative and its relevance to farm families.  Currently a quarter of the tourism establishments and a third of the food establishments accredited to the brand are on-farm or farmer owned enterprises.  The Fuchsia Brand and its ability to provide a development infrastructure for local enterprises with regard to collective marketing, training and networking was highlighted as an exemplary development approach.  The seminar also saw the launch of www.farmoptions.ie highlighting a number of case studies of alternative farm enterprises developed by Fuchsia Brand approved enterprises.

From left: Prof. Joe Mannion, Dept of Agriculture, UCD,  Alan Dukes, Director-General, Institute for European Affairs & Jim Power, Chief Economist, Friends First

From left: Minister Joe Walsh, Barry Cogan, Chairman of West Cork LEADER &

 Ian Dempsey, Chief Executive of West Cork LEADER