12 farmers to receive awards for contribution to nature

Some 12 farmers are to receive awards for their contributions to nature at the annual Farming for Nature weekend in Kinvara, Co Galway.

These farmers will now be Farming for Nature’s ambassadors for 2024 and they will receive their accolades at the Burren Winterage Festival this weekend.

This brings the number of Farming for Nature ambassadors around the country to 102.

The group of chosen ambassadors represents a broad range of farm types and systems.

Of the 12 ambassadors, five are organic or in organic conversion and seven are conventional, with farm sizes varying from 10ha to 240ha.

Derogation dairy farmer

New ambassador dairy farmer Shane Fitzgerald, who is in derogation, said he wants to show that nature does not have to come at the expense of profitability.

“We’re really proud to be Farming for Nature ambassadors – it's such a fantastic initiative.

"We’re passionate about showing farmers that it is possible for a derogation farm to be highly profitable, while allowing plenty of space for nature,” he added.

Over the next year, each of these farmers will host a farm walk on their land, participate in a five-minute video about their farming system, share their work on a podcast and take part in an online Q&A session.

The 12 ambassador profiles are available on the Farming for Nature website.

Farming for Nature was founded in 2018 under the auspices of the Burren Beo Trust. It is a non-profit initiative to support farmers and those who wish to farm to do so in positive way for nature.

Ambassadors

Farming for Nature received 21 nominations from farming and conservation organisations around the country. The following 12 were chosen as award winners and ambassadors:

An additional award will be presented this year to honour ambassador Michael Hickey and his passion for hedgerows, who passed away earlier this year.

The award recognising outstanding hedgerows was won by Pat Maher, a beef farmer in Co Tipperary.