There was one happy Laois winner at the third Annual National Dairy Awards which took place in The Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.
21 Awards were presented on the night at a Gala Ceremony attended by 250 people and hosted by former Minister of Agriculture and media personality Ivan Yates.
Bruce Thompson from Camcloon Dairy, Ballyfin, scooped the Kerry Dairy Ireland Biodiversity Dairy Farmer of the Year award.
The judges were particularly impressed with how Mr Thompson has “altered his farming practices to allow a functioning eco-system operate within a profitable functioning farm.”
The Ballyfin farmer has completed a Nuffield Scholarship as well as a Diploma in The Environment, Agriculture and Sustainability.
Mr Thompson is a member of Animal Health Ireland’s technical working group for parasite control; became the farmer member on the COWS (Control Of Worms Sustainably) steering group; and become the Irish Ambassador for SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises).
This was all done to develop and adopt changes on both his farm and to help others Mr Thompson said.
The National Dairy Awards were founded in 2023 to celebrate the primary producers, the artisan producers, sector services and the dairy processors as an industry collective.
They recognise the best of the Irish dairy sector and the passion, dedication, innovation and hard work of the people within the sector.
Other local winners included Martin O’Reilly of Cappalug Farm in Carlow who won the Young Dairy Farmer of the Year, and Colin Donnery from FRS Co-Op in Roscrea who was the Best Sustainability Driver winner.
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