Welcome to the Oak Park Crop Research Website

Oak Park is home to the National Centre for Arable Crops Research. Situated on 225 hectare research farm, the main objective of the work programme at Oak Park is to support the arable crops sector of Irish agriculture.

To ensure that the research and services at Oak Park are of the highest quality the Centre possesses laboratories and workshops equipped with the most up-to-date technology for analytical and research purposes; thereby enabling Irish agriculture to keep pace with rapidly changing technology.

The task ahead is to adapt new challenges in developing sustainable and environmentally sensitive agricultural systems which will provide farmers with adequate incomes and consumers with quality food at reasonable prices. More specifically, emphasis is placed on optimising crop production efficiency having due regard to:

• Developing sustainable and profitable crop production systems
• Exploiting genetic resources for greater sustainability
• Improving crop quality to meet customer demands
• Developing alternative crops
• Expanding non-food uses for crops
• Protecting the environment

The Irish economy in general, agricultural producers and consumers specifically, have benefited substantially from the technological development and new information emanating from research undertaken by Irish scientists.

This website provides just a flavour of the extensive range of research in which our staff are engaged. Feel free to contact us for further information on our work.

John Spink
Head of Department