The EU's concern for food safety and quality and establishing traceability in the food chain could be addressed by the agricultural and food sectors adopting new technologies, according to Prof Barra O Cinneide, of the University of Limerick.

He was speaking yesterday at the launch of a two-year study on the benefits of applying information technology to rural communities.

The £20,000 (€25,390) research is being funded by the ESB and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) and will focus on the Shannon region and assess how the sectors can keep pace with current developments and whether e-commerce models can be adapted to their use.

Mr Brian Punch, ESB manager in the mid-west region, said technology could provide the means for reversing the centralisation process "that has dogged rural Ireland over decades". The president of the ICMSA, Mr Pat O'Rourke, said changing demands in farming, including compliance with regulation, traceability and direct payments could be met with new technology.

Prof O Cinneide, research fellow at UL, said a significant proportion of the rural population was at risk of becoming peripheral to technology. But the information age held out opportunities to redress rural/urban disparities in employment, education and training.

"The earliest possible assessment of the impact of e-commerce on farming is vital to the sector in order to improve access to information, enhance efficiencies and to identify the opportunities that await," he said.

He added that the Shannon region, comprising Clare, Limerick, north Kerry, north Tipperary and south-west Offaly, comprised 10 per cent of the national population and GNP.