Irish agri-innovators are globally renowned for their quality, excellence and knowledge, as agriculture and tech are in our DNA.?
The annual Innovation Arena competition returned to the Ploughing for its 12th year – and the companies taking part in this year’s competition are the epitome of that, reshaping the future of agriculture internationally.
These agri-innovators are delivering cutting-edge solutions with the power and ability to sustain the agri-tech sector for generations to come.
Their ambition and drive are not only transforming this sector globally, but the agri-tech businesses that were celebrated in the Innovation Arena.
They are also deeply rooted in sustaining rural communities and economies by creating high-quality jobs and important local expenditure.
These AI-led innovations are designed to help farmers make better decisions
Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Arena, hosted in partnership with the National Ploughing Association, is one of the most visited exhibitions annually at the Ploughing – and its focus this year was to accelerate sustainable Irish agri-business.
Over the course of the event, 40 Irish firms, researchers and academia had the opportunity to showcase their products.
And it was clearly evident that the agri-tech sector is embracing AI to tackle a broad spectrum of global challenges – in animal science and technology, animal health and nutrition, agri-engineering, sustainability, climate action, and farm health and safety.?
?Many of these AI-led innovations are designed to help farmers make informed decisions, and to help create more efficient, safer and sustainable practices on farms, as well as optimising operations and helping to create savings in terms of time and costs. ?
An example of this is Roscrea- based Herdwatch, who were Innovation Arena Champions 2025.
Their innovation – ‘Herdi’ – is the first context-aware AI assistant developed specifically for livestock producers. Herdi provides evidence-based insights through chat, voice, or visual formats, and this AI assistant is designed to support everyday farm tasks such as treatment tracking, grazing scheduling, and compliance navigation, offering practical support.
When it comes to sustainably focused solutions, Galway’s Glasport Bio won the Green Impact Award for ‘Gas Abate’, their science-backed manure management system that cuts emissions while also reducing agitation time for farmers. And independent tests have found it cuts emissions from stored slurry by 80pc.
Cork-based innovators ScanInsights?won the Start-Up Innovator of the Year Award (with a €10,000 prize and advisory supports) for their innovative technology which uses AI to give real-time information on bovine scanning.
Enterprise Ireland’s agri-tech cluster is made up of 130 firms, employing over 4,700 people in Ireland and more internationally.
These companies are economic pillars in towns and communities the length and breadth of the country – and the value of their exports in 2024 was €875m.
Enterprise Ireland’s ambition is that these export-focused companies will become the primary driver of the Irish economy – and innovation-focused agri-tech companies are at the heart of that strategy.
James Maloney is the Innovation Arena project manager at Enterprise Ireland
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