Mayo dairy farmer wins Young Farmer of the Year award

Mayo may not have got to the All-Ireland football final this year, but the county claimed the top prize for young farmers last night. Seán O'Donnell (33) from Ballina won the FBD Young Farmer of the Year award, beating some 200 rivals to the prize.

The announcement was made in Bantry, Co Cork, last night after he and five other finalists were interviewed by a panel of agricultural experts.

The competition, now in its 16th year, is run in partnership with the Irish Farmers’ Association and judges farmers on criteria such as business initiative, efficiency, farm safety, environmental protection awareness and community involvement. Mr O’Donnell is a dairy farmer milking 110 cows but he plans to increase this to 150 to capitalise on the ending of the milk quota regime next year. He is looking at the possibility of getting involved in share-farming arrangement with a neighbour. The young farmer is also chairman of a local farmer discussion group and is involved with his local football club.

Springboard

Macra na Feirme

president Kieran O’Dowd said the competition was a springboard for ambitious farmers. “Farming, in a new CAP era and with quota abolition in the near future, is an exciting industry full of opportunity,” he said.

The competition opened in April and more than 200 farmers were nominated. A shortlist of 28 was drawn up last month and the finalists were whittled down to six earlier yesterday.

Éamonn Burke (34) from Corrandulla, Co Galway, came second while Pádraig O'Connor (32) from Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, took third prize.

John Fagan (35) from Collinstown, Co Westmeath, William Morris (31) from Ballydehob, Co Cork, and Donal O'Connell (33)from Mallow, Co Cork, were also finalists.

A woman has never won the award and just one made it to this year's semi-final – Aisling Molloy (21), a beef farmer and animal science student from Tullamore, Co Offaly.

Bursary

Mr O’Donnell has won a bursary of €3,000 to allow him to study farm practices abroad.

Macra na Feirme surveyed the farmers taking part in this year’s competition to get their views on everything from where they shop to who was to blame for the non-appearance of Garth Brooks this summer. (More than a third shopped in SuperValu and most said all the parties involved in the Brooks debacle shared the blame.)