Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has launched the 2021 Grassland Farmer of the Year competition.
The competition recognises and acknowledges farmers achieving high levels of grass utilisation in a sustainable manner.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Teagasc; Allied Irish Bank; FBD Insurance and Grassland Agro are among the stakeholders supporting the competition.
The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is being run as part of the Teagasc Grass10 grassland campaign.
The Grass10 programme encourages grassland farmers to grow and utilise more grass in the animal’s diet.
The targets are to utilise 10 tonnes of grass dry matter per hectare per annum, with 10 grazings per paddock per year.
2021 Grassland Farmer of the Year competition
Speaking at the launch, Minister Charlie McConalogue said: “My department is delighted to once again support this competition because of the role that grass plays in sustainable livestock-based food production systems.”
“Grass is the cornerstone of Irish livestock production systems providing an environmentally sustainable feed source.”
Coordinator of the Teagasc Grass10 Campaign, John Maher, said: “We encourage all farmers across enterprises to make the best use of grass on the farms.”
“We urge livestock farmers to enter the Grassland Farmer of the Year competition to test their grass growing skills against the best in the country.”
The competition has an overall prize fund of €20,000.
There will be an overall award and many other category winners with eight prizes in total.
Categories
Enterprise category awards:
- Drystock;
- Dairy
Other category awards:
- Clover/sustainable farming
- Heavy soils/disadvantaged land
- Innovation
- Young farmer (under 30 years). The young farmer category can include entrants that are farm managers or farming in a collaborative arrangement.
There will be awards for the runners up of the main categories. Each category winner will receive €3,000.
The innovation award winner prize is €1,000. The overall winner will be selected from the category winners and will receive an additional €2,000.
Enter and closing date
To enter, complete the Grassland Farmer of the Year 2021 online application form.
The closing date for applications is Monday, October 18th, 2021.
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