Deadline: 04-Mar-22
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Rural Innovation and Development Fund (RIDF) and Government of Ireland is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 2022 Agri-Food Tourism.
Agri-food tourism broadly is the practice of offering an activity or activities inrural areas to visit areas of well-known agricultural produce and to sample andtaste the local or regional cuisine or specialties. Agri-food tourism includes awide variety of activities that involve the links between agriculture and the foodproduced at the local or regional level. It may involve staying on farm or touringfood trails and events, participation in agricultural endeavours or buying producedirect from a farm or market. Agri-food tourism also encompasses local food,farmer and artisan market schemes that support and are paired with local andseasonal food producers and artisan crafts.
Objectives:
The objective of this call for proposals is to provide, on a competitive basis,funding to activities or items that relate to the promotion and/or development ofinnovative agri-food tourism projects. These initiatives should be underpinnedwith the objective of energising the rural economy by encouraging innovative jobcreation and sustainable enterprise development.Whilst there is not a definitive list of projects, it is envisaged that one or more ofthe following elements will be included in the proposal:
- Linkage of agri-food/drink or local food/artisan markets experiences withexisting tourism initiatives,
- Food/drink festivals/markets or trails or series, (These events must comply with Covid-19 guidelines)
- Events which promote local food/artisan market experiences,
- Showcase events which promote local produce, crafts, businesses, authentic culinary or traditional skills,
- Inter-county collaborations which integrate and promote inter-county orregional agri-food experiences,
- Allow eligible existing local rural food/artisan markets to continue, tomaximise their potential and/or expand,
- Assist rural communities who have already taken verifiable steps to establish a local food/artisan market to progress to opening stage,
- Funding for supports (such as websites, service provider networks, guidance/handbooks etc) or the development of agri-food trails/experiences that can be used beyond 2022.
Funding Information
- Funding will be provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to part fund initiatives designed to promote agri-foodtourism. The maximum amount that will be paid to any project is €25,000 (incl VAT).
Eligibility Criteria
This Call for Proposals is open to agri-food tourism initiatives which:
- Are situated outside the administrative boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
- Are up and running and currently operating or expect to be operational in 2022.
- Are community-based and use (not necessarily exclusively) locally sourced inputs, such as food produce, local crafts, etc. Those initiatives planning to begin must demonstrate that they can comply with this requirement.
- Can demonstrate that their proposal is, or can be, sufficiently advanced to allow final payment to be correctly made by the Department by end 2022 at the latest.
- Can demonstrate the funding is for current expenditure (i.e. is not for capital expenditure).
- Can demonstrate the organisations economic and financial standing to prove that the organisation is financially sound. Applicants must declare in the submission that they can provide evidence supporting their financial standing (i.e. a copy of the organisations audited accounts for the last 3-years).
For more information, visit https://www.gov.ie/en/form/4411a-call-for-proposals-agri-food-tourism/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/en/form/4411a-call-for-proposals-agri-food-tourism-2021/
