The winners of the inaugural sustainable farmer awards - a partnership between the FBD National Livestock Show, Bord Bia, Teagasc and the Irish Farmers Journal - will be presented with their prizes by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD at Sunday’s Tullamore Show.

The awards form an important part of the first-ever sustainable livestock village at the show and showcase the positive sustainability practices being implemented on beef and sheep farms across the country.

Commenting on the awards, show livestock chair Michael Dolan said: “The award winners highlight the good work being done on farms to implement sustainable practices. They provide useful pointers for other farmers as they work to improve the sustainability of their enterprise.”

The awards saw 15 finalists being judged across a range of different categories, including animal performance, health management, carbon footprint and much more.

The awards recognise the achievements of winning farms across five farming systems:

  • Suckler calf to weanling/store - Margaret and Jack Stevenson, Co Donegal.
  • Suckler to beef - Vincent Keane, Co Galway.
  • Dairy calf to beef - Catriona and Joe O’Meara, Co Wexford.
  • Beef finisher - Samuel Hill, Co Cavan.
  • Lamb producer - PJ Finnerty, Co Roscommon.

    • Bord Bia chief executive Jim O Toole commented: “I’d like to congratulate the winners and thank all the finalists for their participation in this year’s sustainable farmer awards.

    "The finalists were selected from almost 56,000 members of our Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme using verified audit data.

    "These farmers are among the top performers with regard to their carbon footprint, grassland and manure management and soil fertility.

    "Farm sustainability is increasingly important in driving the purchasing decisions of global buyers and through the participation of Irish farmers in Origin Green, we can continue to build on the positive reputation of Irish meat and dairy.”

    Commenting on the awards, deputy editor and beef editor with the Irish Farmers Journal Adam Woods said: “The Irish Farmers Journal is delighted to partner in this year’s sustainability farmer awards.

    "In a changing world, it has been never more important to highlight the huge amount of work that is already taking place on Irish farms in relation to climate change.

    New initiative

    "We hope that this new initiative will give more farmers the confidence to make changes to their farms, which will leave them more profitable and lower their carbon footprint.”

    Teagasc cattle specialist Aidan Murray highlighted that: “Livestock farmers are embracing technologies to farm in a more sustainable way.

    "The finalists in this competition are excellent role models of how farmers are working with nature and using modern science-based technologies to improve their economic and environmental sustainability.

    "The Signpost programme - Farmers for Climate Action, which is supported by over 60 organisations and 120 Signpost farms, is demonstrating best practice to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming. A free Signpost service is available to all farmers who register with Teagasc.”

    The sustainable livestock village represents a collaboration between the National Livestock Show, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Bord Bia, Teagasc, Animal Health Ireland, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federatoin, Dairy industry Ireland, Meat Industry Ireland and the Irish Farmers Journal.

    The village is open all day and visitors to the show can meet the finalists and talk about some of the changes which they have made to their farm.

    The winning farmers and the farming systems will be profiled in the Irish Farmers Journal in the coming weeks.