He is involved with Macra na Feirme , IFA and Carrigahorig local development plan. He was chair of Macra na Feirme’s agriculture affairs committee in 2012 and serviced on various national committees of the organization. He is also vice-chairperson of the Offaly Quality Lamb Producer Group, which markets and sells over 20,000 lambs per year for its members.

John’s topic is ”A blue print for starting a successful producer group”. With the expanding Irish dairy herd there is a need to ensure that ways to secure the future of the beef industry are explored and acted upon.

A Blueprint for Starting a Successful Producer Group.

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Ray began his career working for the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). Subsequently, he took up a role with Munster Cattle Breeding Group (MCBG). He headed up a team of A.I. technicians based across counties Tipperary and Clare.

Whilst in his role in MCBG, he received a new entrant quota in 2014, and converted his farm from a beef to a dairy enterprise. He began by milking 56 cows and has grown this significantly. He left MCBG in 2019 in order to farm full time.

His study topic was “Future Genetic Trends for Grass Based Dairying”. His study travels took him to New-Zealand & Australia, and he participated in the ‘India GFP’.

Future Genetic Trends for Grass Based Dairying

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Tom is a dairy farmer with 130 cows, plus followers. In 2014 Tom and Norma founded their farmhouse cheese company Bó Rua Farm. The business has developed award winning cheese using traditional techniques, from milk produced by their herd of Montbeliarde and Friesian cows.

He aimed to gain knowledge and ideas from other countries so as to explore how diversification is already successfully undertaken in those regions.

Value-Added Dairy Farm Diversification - The Ingredients for Success

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Soon after, she began transforming the tillage farm into a biodiverse, sustainable farm with broadleaf forestry, crops, livestock, wildflowers and hives.

To support her aims to reconnect consumers to farms and the cycle of agricultural life, Brookfield Farm Hiveshare and Hive Gifts launched in December 2014. The concept is a full cycle of raw Irish honey and beeswax candle production from the ground up. The farm is home to hives of honey bees which produce honey and beeswax for all-natural pure beeswax candles. The farm workshop, with a spectacular views of Lough Derg and the Tipperary landscape is where Ailbhe and helpers welcome farm visitors to enjoy learning about biodiversity, organic farming and beewax candle crafting.

Ailbhe also lectures at Gurteen Agricultural College and is an IFOAM Organic Agricultural Masterclass alumnus.

Ailbhe has been featured in numerous media, including the Irish Farmer’s Journal, the Sunday Independent, Image Interiors and Living, Irish Country Magazine, RTE and Newstalk.

Brookfield Farm business has won awards including: Irish Times Artisan food producers’ award 2014, winner of Bronze in Creative Retail Bank of Ireland Start Up awards 2017, honey awarded national finalist in the Blas na hÉireann 2017 awards. Brookfield Farm has won many fans, including Design Ireland, US Vogue Magazine and US Town and Country Magazine and loyal customers.

Ailbhe is finalising plans to export Brookfield Farm’s beeswax candles.

You can visit Ailbhes YouTube page here

Farms Selling Direct to Consumer (Adding value - farm to consumer direct sales, short food chains)

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Peter graduated as a Structural Engineer in 2008 but returned home to farm in partnership with his father in May 2009. They have since converted the 100 cow liquid herd into a 170 cow grass based Spring milk system. Having now maximised their current milk platform, Peter is keen in investigate how he can profitably expand his dairy business. He will study “Living in a Volatile World: Strategies to Managing Dairy Volatility”. As part of his study he will examine what forms of expansion are best suited to Irish conditions. He will analyse what level of scale and capital is required for such expansion and the financial returns possible.

He investigated how internationally successful co-ops have facilitated and financially supported their members in expanding milk production and in return, their own milk pool and examined how co-ops can best facilitate expansion and collaboration among its members for the betterment of the co-op and its members.

Risky Business - Managing Dairy Volatility

The post Peter Farrell appeared first on Nuffield Ireland.

Innovative disruption of farmer development programmes

The post Roberta McDonald appeared first on Nuffield Ireland.