Wexford farmer amongst winners of Farming for Nature Ambassador Awards 2024

Farming for Nature has announced the 12 farmers who have been chosen as Ambassadors for 2024…

The project founded in 2018, seeks to acknowledge and support farmers who farm, or wish to farm, in a way that will improve the natural health of the countryside. The network has now grown to having 102 Ambassadors from all over the country.

This organisation received 21 nominations from farming and conservation organisations around the country. However, only 12 could be chosen to win this year’s awards. The chosen ambassadors are:

County Ambassadors:

Ken Gill, Beef & Tillage Co. Offaly

Shane Fitzgerald & Kate Curran, Dairy, Co. Waterford

Lisa Fingleton & Rena Blake, Horticulture and Social Farming, Co. Kerry

Nigel Gillis, Tillage, Co. Wicklow

Tommy Reidy, Beef, Co. Kerry

Joe Roche, Dairy, Co. Wexford

Bryan & Gail Daniels, Dairy, Co. Kilkenny

Alan & Alanna Daly, Beef, Sheep and Forestry, Co. Mayo

Colum Ginnelly, Sheep, Co. Mayo

Jack Browne, Tillage, Co. Carlow

Sean Gilligan & Rob Kennedy, Horticulture, Beef and Poultry, Co. Sligo

Tom & Michael Keane, Dairy & Beef, Co. Limerick

There has been an additional award given out this year to honour Ambassador Michael Hickey and his passion for hedgerows, who passed away earlier this year. This award recognising outstanding hedgerows was won by Pat Maher, a beef farmer in Co. Tipperary.

The group of chosen Ambassadors represent a broad range of farm types and systems that include not only dairy but beef, sheep, tillage, as well as mixed systems. Of the 12 ambassadors, five are organic or in organic conversion and seven are conventional farms, with farm sizes varying from 10 to 240 hectares.

New ambassador, dairy farmer Shane Fitzgerald said:

“We’re really proud to be Farming for Nature ambassadors – it’s such a fantastic initiative. We’re passionate about showing farmers that is possible for a derogation farm to be highly profitable while allowing plenty of space for nature,” Shane said.

Over the next year, each of these farmers will host a farm walk on their land, participate in a 5-minute video about their farming system, share their work on a podcast and take part in an online Q&A session. These are invaluable resources with some of the new ambassadors having attended previous Farming for Nature events to help them get to where they are now. Nigel Gillis, new ambassador and tillage farmer in Co. Wicklow said upon receiving his award that “this initiative has been thoroughly rewarding and every event has been informative and a great learning environment.”

Each Ambassador is showcased in detail on the Farming for Nature website and social media channels, giving other farmers the opportunity to hear their stories, all 12 ambassador profiles are available on www.farmingfornature.ie and hopefully be inspired to create change for nature on their own lands.

The awards were presented by RTÉ broadcaster Ella McSweeney at the National Farming for Nature Awards which took place at the Burren Winterage Festival over the October bank holiday weekend in Kinvara, Co. Galway.