Forward thinking: Innovation is nothing new for farmers

Covid-19 pandemic brought with it an increased need for new ideas — but people in rural Ireland have already been innovating for hundreds of years

Social entrepreneur Alma Jordan, founder of AgriKids, and her son Eamon (8) on their farm in Julianstown, Co Meath. Picture: Julien Behal Photography 

Making changes that introduce new methods in something that is already established is the generally accepted definition of innovation.

Farmers and other rural people in Ireland know all about it because they have been innovators ever since they began to cultivate the soil in the Céide Fields on the coast of Mayo some 5,000 years ago.