Teagasc has officially opened its newly refurbished advisory office in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, following a major upgrade.

The ribbon was cut on the half million euro investment, following a meeting of the Teagasc Authority.

The Clonmel advisory office, which serves 1,500 farmer clients, is one of three advisory offices in the Tipperary region, with the others being Thurles and Nenagh.

Teagasc

Teagasc chair, Liam Herlihy, who officially opened the upgraded facility, said: "It is important that Teagasc continues to invest in its facilities to ensure we have modern, energy efficient up to date offices".

Donal Mullane, Teagasc regional advisory manager in Co. Tipperary said he was "really pleased that the Clonmel office has been upgraded for the farming community in the surrounding area".

"We have previously upgraded the Thurles and Nenagh offices, so we now have modern facilities for our staff to work in, and for our farmer clients to visit when conducting their business with us," he said.

The advisory programme in Tipperary, delivered through the three advisory offices and the advisory clinic in Tipperary town, complements the overall Teagasc programme in the Tipperary region.

The advisory services work with other Teagasc initiatives including the research farm at Solohead, the Tipperary dairy calf-to-beef demonstration farm at Ballyvadin, and the regional and full-time Teagasc education programmes.

Planning

Teagasc recently submitted a planning application to Tipperary County Council seeking to redevelop Solohead research farm at Knockaneduff, Donohill.

Last year, plans were finalised with ArraTipp Co-op, which owns the farm, for Teagasc to develop Solohead into a dairy demonstration farm.

The proposed development includes the construction of a single storey calving shed and single storey milking parlour shed, along with underground slurry storage tanks.

The yard area will include a base for an above ground effluent storage tank, two silage pits, dungstead, and bale storage area.

However, Tipperary County Council wrote to Teagasc this week to inform the authority that the planning application lodged was "invalid".

The council said the development description should state "yard area including base and above ground effluent storage tank", rather than just referring to a "base".

Planners also said that elevations for the proposed calving shed, silage pits, dungstead, and bale storage area should be submitted as part of the application.