Father and son duo John and Brendan Walsh have been named the overall winners of the inaugural Teagasc FBD Environmental Sustainability Award.
The dairy farmers from Ballylooby, Co Tipperary, took the top prize at the ceremony in Co Laois on Tuesday night and will take home a combined €10,000 for their win in their category and overall.
The Teagasc FBD environmental sustainability awards, supported by FBD Insurance, boasted a total prize fund of €30,000. The awards recognised excellence across nine categories, culminating in one overall winner.
The finalists represented a diverse range of farming sectors, including six dairy, four suckler beef, two dairy-beef, two sheep and two tillage farmers.
Each enterprise award winner received €2,500 and each winner in the 'best of' category received €2,500.
Tipperary dairy farmers take home first prize
John and his son Brendan run a 165-cow dairy farm in Ballylooby, Co Tipperary. They are operating an efficient and profitable dairy farm, while also focusing on looking after the environment.
Currently, 65% of the farm contains clover, with some paddocks receiving no chemical fertiliser in the last two years. Chemical nitrogen use has been reduced and GPS equipment is used to reduce waste.
Hedgerows are carefully managed to allow individual whitethorn trees to grow up and trees are planted on the farm each year. John and Brendan are also using buffer zones to protect water quality.
Significant progress has been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the farm. They have reduced their chemical nitrogen (N) use by 48% since 2020, and 87% of their chemical N is NBPT-protected urea.
A notable achievement on the farm is having an N surplus at 91kg of N/ha , compared with the national average of 159kg N/ha. This significantly reduces the risk of nitrates leaching into waterways on the farm.
Award winners in the Teagasc FBD environmental sustainability awards
Enterprise winners:
John and Brendan Walsh - dairy.Aidan Maguire, Meath - dairy-beef.Shane Keaveney, Roscommon - suckler beef.Brian Nicholson, Kilkenny - sheep.Tom Barry, Cork - tillage.Category winners:
Edwin Thompson, Tipperary (dairy) - reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ken Gill, Offaly (suckler beef) - enhancing biodiversity.Martin Crowe, Limerick (dairy) - improving water quality.James O’Keeffe, Meath (organic tillage) - improving soil health and carbon.Find out more about John and Brendan Walsh in this short video from Teagasc here.
Father and son duo John and Brendan Walsh have been named the overall winners of the inaugural Teagasc FBD Environmental Sustainability Award.
The dairy farmers from Ballylooby, Co Tipperary, took the top prize at the ceremony in Co Laois on Tuesday night and will take home a combined €10,000 for their win in their category and overall.
The Teagasc FBD environmental sustainability awards, supported by FBD Insurance, boasted a total prize fund of €30,000. The awards recognised excellence across nine categories, culminating in one overall winner.
The finalists represented a diverse range of farming sectors, including six dairy, four suckler beef, two dairy-beef, two sheep and two tillage farmers.
Each enterprise award winner received €2,500 and each winner in the 'best of' category received €2,500.
Tipperary dairy farmers take home first prize
John and his son Brendan run a 165-cow dairy farm in Ballylooby, Co Tipperary. They are operating an efficient and profitable dairy farm, while also focusing on looking after the environment.
Currently, 65% of the farm contains clover, with some paddocks receiving no chemical fertiliser in the last two years. Chemical nitrogen use has been reduced and GPS equipment is used to reduce waste.
Hedgerows are carefully managed to allow individual whitethorn trees to grow up and trees are planted on the farm each year. John and Brendan are also using buffer zones to protect water quality.
Significant progress has been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the farm. They have reduced their chemical nitrogen (N) use by 48% since 2020, and 87% of their chemical N is NBPT-protected urea.
A notable achievement on the farm is having an N surplus at 91kg of N/ha , compared with the national average of 159kg N/ha. This significantly reduces the risk of nitrates leaching into waterways on the farm.
Award winners in the Teagasc FBD environmental sustainability awards
Enterprise winners:
John and Brendan Walsh - dairy.Aidan Maguire, Meath - dairy-beef.Shane Keaveney, Roscommon - suckler beef.Brian Nicholson, Kilkenny - sheep.Tom Barry, Cork - tillage.Category winners:
Edwin Thompson, Tipperary (dairy) - reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ken Gill, Offaly (suckler beef) - enhancing biodiversity.Martin Crowe, Limerick (dairy) - improving water quality.James O’Keeffe, Meath (organic tillage) - improving soil health and carbon.Find out more about John and Brendan Walsh in this short video from Teagasc here.
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