On 28th May 2026, AgTech Ireland and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ireland held a joint session at the AgTechUCD Innovation Centre.
After a tour of the new dairy-calf-to-beef research shed, four AgTech Ireland members gave short pitches: Abbey Machinery, GlasPort Bio, Pearson Milking Technology and Proveye. The Dutch delegation then introduced itself. It included 13 companies and research organisations, among them Lely, Wageningen University & Research, TNO and UNIFORM-Agri.
Conan Condon chaired a panel on digitisation on livestock farms with James Greevy (Herdwatch), Fergus Hannon (Dairymaster), Wytse Sonnema (Lely) and Tineke Ammerlaan-Sieperda (UNIFORM-Agri). The main points were:
• Farmers adopt technology because of trust and support as much as because of the technology itself.
• AI can improve decisions and help with labour shortages, but if it is poorly implemented it adds complexity.
• Data is worth more when it is shared, but farmers still need convincing to share it across platforms.
• Technology should support farming skills, not replace them.Alltech, CORE Technology, Cork Grassland Services, Dairypower, DLF and FRS Co-op also attended.
The session produced new Irish-Dutch connections and plans for follow-up meetings to explore collaboration.
