Sustainable farming wins award nominations for local families

SEVERAL West Cork families have been nominated for the first-ever Bord Bia Origin Green Farmer awards, putting them among the most efficient farms in the country. 

Origin Green is the world’s first national programme to address climate change and the broader sustainability challenges in food and agriculture. 

Bord Bia is inaugurating the Farmer Awards this year to the exceptional performance being achieved by members of Bord Bia’s Beef and Dairy Sustainability Assurance schemes, which are pivotal to differentiating Irish food and drink in the global marketplace.

Among those nominated are:

Donal O’Connor: Donal is a dairy farmer from Drinagh, and supplies Drinagh Co-op. His enterprise is cited for excellent water usage efficiency, with only five litres of water used per litre of milk produced.

John Joe and Theresa O’Sullivan: John Joe and Theresa are dairy farmers from Rosscarbery, supplying the Lisavaird Co-op. A total of 12% of their farm is designated as a wildlife habitat, and the family also keeps bees.

Dermot Walsh: Dermot is a supplier to the Barryroe Co-op. His enterprise is cited as an excellent grassland farm, with valuable use of slurry in spring maximised in particular.

Brendan Brady: A dairy supplier to Bandon Co-op, Brendan Brady hails from Inishannon. He has been cited for a keen focus on grassland, soil nutrients and efficient slurry usage.

Thomas Buckley: The farmer, although based in North Cork on Banteer, is a supplier to Clóna Dairy. He manages a liquid milk production system on target to produce 1.8 million litres, with grassland management showing superb attention to detail.

 A total of 28 beef and dairy finalists have been shortlisted for the awards. 

The overall winning producers will be announced at an awards ceremony on Friday October 21st