Deadline: 5-Mar-21
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Rural Innovation and Development Fund (RIDF), and the Government of Ireland is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 2021 Agri-Food Tourism.
Agri-food tourism broadly is the practice of offering an activity or activities in rural areas to visit areas of well-known agricultural produce and to sample and taste the local or regional cuisine or specialties. Agri-food tourism includes a wide variety of activities that involve the links between agriculture and the food produced at the local or regional level. It may involve staying on-farm or touring food trails and events, participation in agricultural endeavors or buying produce direct from a farm or market. Agri-food tourism also encompasses local food, farmer and artisan market schemes that support and are paired with local and seasonal food producers and artisan crafts.
Objective
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 of innovative agri-food tourism projects. These initiatives should be underpinned with the objective of energizing the rural economy by encouraging innovative job creation and sustainable enterprise development.
Whilst there is not a definitive list of projects, it is envisaged that one or more of the following elements will be included in the proposal:
- Linkage of agri-food/drink or local food/artisan markets experiences with existing tourism initiatives;
- Food/drink festivals/markets or trails or series, (These events must comply with Covid-19 guidelines);
- Events that promote local food/artisan market experiences;
- Showcase events that promote local produce, crafts, businesses, authentic culinary or traditional skills;
- Inter-county collaborations which integrate and promote inter-county regional agri-food experiences;
- Allow eligible existing local rural food/artisan markets to continue, to maximize their potential and/or expand;
- Assist rural communities who have already taken verifiable steps to establish a local food/artisan market to progress to the 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 2021.
Funding Information
- Funding will be provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to part-fund initiatives designed to promote agri-food tourism. 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 have taken concrete steps to be operational in 2021;
- 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 be correctly made by the Department by end of 2021 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-2021/