The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition 2021 is open for entries having been officially launched by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD. The competition recognises and acknowledges those farmers who are achieving high levels of grass utilisation in a sustainable manner.
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 grass dry matter per hectare per annum, with 10 grazings per paddock per year.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Charlie McConalogue said, “my Department are 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.”
The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Teagasc; Allied Irish Bank; FBD Insurance; Grassland Agro and the Irish Farmers Journal.
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. Eight prizes will be awarded in total.
Enterprise category awards:
- Drystock
- Dairy
Other category awards:
- Clover/sustainable farming
- Heavy soils/Disadvantaged Land
- Innovation
- Young Farmer (under 30 years)
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.
To enter, complete the Grassland Farmer of the Year 2021 online application form on here.
The closing date for application is Monday, 18 October 2021
