Pictured in Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork at the Grassland Farmer of the Year Awards 2021 are overall winner Colin Doherty, Adare, Co Limerick, his parents Brian & Ruth with sponsors Eamon O’Reilly, AIB, Liam Woulfe, Grassland Agro, Martin Heydon T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Padraig Walsh, FBD Insurance & Chairman Teagasc Grass10 stakeholder committee, Aidan Brennan, Irish Farmers Journal, Liam Herlihy, Teagasc Chairman & Prof. Frank O’Mara, Teagasc Director. Now in its fifth year the awards recognise and reward the top grassland farmers in the country who are growing and utilising more grass on their farms in a sustainable manner. The awards are supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with an overall prize fund of €20,000. Photo O’Gorman Photography.
Minister of State, with responsibility for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, has congrat-ulated Adare’s Colin Doherty on being named Farmer of the Year 2022.
Colin was one of ten finalists shortlisted for the award.
“As finalists you are joining a group of top-class grassland farmers, and I would particularly like to congratulate Colin on winning the overall Grassland Farmer of the Year Award. It’s an achievement you can be really proud of Colin,” said Minister Heydon at the presentation cere-mony at Moorepark, Cork.
He added: “It is clear that initiatives such as Grass10 and the Grass-land Farmer of the Year are to the fore in helping farmers achieve the most they can from the natural resource they have on their farm, which is grass. All finalists and their families are shining examples of the science and innovation on Irish farms from every sector.”
Now in its fifth year, the awards recognise and reward the top grassland farmers in the country who are growing and utilising more grass on their farms in a sus-tainable manner. The awards are part of the Teagasc Grass10 cam-paign, which is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc and several private sponsors.
For good measure, Colin also claimed the Dairy Enterprise Award.
Colin was joined at the awards celebration by his parents Bryan and Ruth, and also co-sponsor Liam Woulfe (Adare) of Limerick-based Grassland Agro. “Probably what made us stand out is that 90% of our cows’ diet is our home-grown grass,” commented Colin.
Knockainey’s John McNamara won the award in 2018.
Colin is currently a lead contributor on the @IrelandsFarmers Twitter account, which gives daily informative updates on various aspects of farming life.
Only late last year, Michael, Mary Ita and Alex McCarthy of Feenagh were named as All-Ireland Quality Milk Award winners, further proof of Limerick’s current well-being at the top of farming in Ireland.