Bord Bia boss McCarthy for West Cork Farming Awards

THE chief executive of An Bord Bia, Clonakilty native Tara McCarthy, will be the special guest speaker at the 4th annual West Cork Farming Awards. 

Run by The Southern Star in conjunction with the Celtic Ross Hotel, the awards will be presented at a gala lunchtime event at the hotel in Rosscarbery on Sunday, September 23rd. 

Tara has had a stellar career in the food industry, having previously served as chief executive of BIM before taking up Bord Bia’s top job – a role that’s even more important now as Britain prepares to leave the EU.

Her work is of great interest to farmers, who produce most of our food, and guests at the Farming Awards will be anxious to hear her thoughts on Brexit and what she thinks the potential fall-out from it will be.

At the awards ceremony on the 23rd, five category awards will be presented, along with one new special award: They are the Young Farmer of the Year award, sponsored by Drimoleague Concrete Works; Sustainability & Diversification award, sponsored by Scally’s SuperValu, Clonakilty; Dairy Farmer of the Year, sponsored by Allied Irish Bank; Drystock Farmer of the Year, sponsored by Eurogene AI Services, and the Hall of Fame award, sponsored by IFAC. 

There are three people shortlisted for each of these awards – see details in the West Cork Farming magazine in this week’s Southern Star. The new special Judges’ Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Farming Community, sponsored by Hodnett Forde, auctioneers, will be presented to Harold Kingston of Courtmacsherry.

A limited number of tickets is available to buy for members of the public interested in attending the awards ceremony. However, they must be pre-booked on 023-8848722 and paid for in advance. Unreserved tickets will not be available to purchase on the day.