The eighth edition of the Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is open for entries.

The 2024 competition, which looks for farmers who are growing and utilising high levels of grass in a sustainable way, will have seven awards, with an overall prize pool of €35,000.

The event is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Teagasc, AIB, FBD, Grassland Agro and the Irish Farmers Journal and is run as part of the Grass10 campaign.

Launching this year’s awards, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: “Grass is a valuable asset that gives our farmers a natural advantage over our international counterparts.

“It’s important that we maximise the efficiencies of our grass-based systems to make them more profitable and environmentally sustainable.”

Categories

There are prizes available in six different categories - two in enterprise and four others - and an overall winner will be selected as the ‘Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year’.

Each award comes with a €5,000 prize, as well as a further €5,000 for the overall winner.

The categories include dairy, drystock, nutrient management and use efficiency, clover, organic farmer and young farmer (under 30 years).

The young farmer category will also be open to farm managers or farmers in a collaborative arrangement.

Head of the Teagasc Grass10 programme John Maher said: “Grass is crucial to sustainable livestock systems both in terms of economic and environmental sustainability.

“More and more farmers are using protected urea fertiliser, recycling the nutrients in slurry through the use of low emissions slurry spreading (LESS) equipment and incorporating white clover, red clover and multi-species swards to reduce their use of chemical nitrogen.”

For farmers who wish to apply, entries can be made on the Teagasc website.

The closing date for entries is Friday 6 September 2024.