Aherla’s Deasys win Dairygold’s competition for malting barley

THE Deasy family from Aherla have been crowned overall winners of this year’s Dairygold malting barley competition at its annual tillage conference.

Crowned the Mid Cork regional winners in the competition some weeks ago, the three-generation Deasy family grow forage crops alongside a significant area of cereals all in the rotational way that sees them achieve high yields and quality on a regular basis. The judges commended the Deasys for their sustainable farming practices and efforts to replace the use of chemical fertiliser on their crops.

At the awards were Ciarán Collins, Teagasc advisor; Sean O’Brien, Dairygold chairman; Jim McCarthy, managing partner of Southern Harvest Romania; Conor Galvin, Dairygold chief executive; Liam Leahy, Dairygold beef and tillage manager; Andy Doyle, Farmers Journal, and John Geraghty, South East TU. (Photos: Peter Pietrzak)

The Deasys were presented with their award at Dairygold’s tillage conference, the first one held in three years due to postponements as a result of Covid-19. 

The event, attended by a large number of growers and traders, heard from a number of specialist speakers such as Ciaran Collins of Teagasc, John Geraghty of the South Eastern Technological University and Jim McCarthy, owner of a tillage enterprise in eastern Romania. 

The speakers addressed the crowd on key topics such as the importance of soil health for tillage production and farming and producing sustainably for the future, all linking back to the conference theme of ‘Feed our soils to feed our people’.

Dairygold chairman Sean O’Brien said it is very important that all tillage growers get the opportunity to showcase the sustainability credentials, the standards they achieve in husbandry and the vital contribution they make to the business. ‘Tillage growers are a very important part of Dairygold’s business and we remain committed to supporting and developing this part of the business into the future,’ he said.

‘It is great to see a strong attendance at this event today after our three year absence and to hear from the excellent speakers. These knowledge sharing events are crucially important for the industry as they play a huge part in informing future practices for our growers.’