Niall O’Regan

Niall O’Regan hails from a dairy farm in Mallow in North Cork and farms in partnership with his parents. He spent six years working for New Zealand farming co operative, LIC, based in Ireland. Today, he’s employed as an Agri Manager for Ulster Bank Ireland. Niall is actively involved in the community with Macra na Feirme, along with charities, Concern and Haven Partnership.

The expansion of the dairy sector in Ireland has the potential to bring about significant economic benefits for the Irish economy. However, with those benefits comes the risk to the environment and in particular, our water quality.

In order to fully realise the opportunities of the dairy industry, we should view water quality as an asset and as a risk factor, which needs to be better managed. International customers for our dairy produce insist that it is produced in an environmentally friendly manner from farm to processor.

As dairy farmers, we need to protect and enhance our image as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable producer of dairy produce in the world. Our water quality is a key indicator of our environmental impact and we need to ensure we continue to maintain and improve this key metric.

 

Improving Nutrient Management and Protecting Water Quality