This year our West Cork Farming Awards celebrate their 10th anniversary
The Southern Star in conjunction with the Celtic Ross Hotel originally set up the awards as a way to champion, recognise, and shine a light on the men, women, families, communities, organisations, and businesses that contribute to West Cork’s vibrant and vital agricultural and farming industry. Over the years we’ve celebrated many fantastic finalists and winners from all aspects of West Cork farming life and enjoyed dynamic and often emotional gala awards lunches at the Celtic Ross Hotel.
Every month, from April until October we will announce a new monthly recipient of a West Cork Farming Award in The Southern Star farming pages.
The gala awards lunch will then be held in November at the Celtic Ross Hotel where we will award trophies to all of our monthly winners and also announce the winners of our Hall of Fame award and West Cork Farming Family of the Year award also.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winner for the month of April is Desmond Savage
(Photo: Andy Gibson)
AROUND a decade ago Desmond Savage could see the pressure mounting on farming as climate change began to dominate conversations. But to him, it seemed ‘too easy to point the finger of blame at farming, while the demand for fossil fuels grew exponentially.’
However, with over two decades experience working with global manufacturing companies, he was exposed to the latest technologies, which ultimately led him to create ingestible ‘Fitbits’ for cows and establish the award-winning agri company, Moonsyst.
Read more about why we chose Desmond here.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winner for the month of May is Nicole Keohane from Innishannon
(Photo: Andy Gibson)
NICOLE Keohane didn’t milk her first cow until she was 17 – but she was instantly hooked and is now driven to breaking down barriers that face young people who want to get involved in the agri sector.
The 25-year-old from Innishannon has achieved a considerable amount in the seven years since she left school, and combines her work as a dairy farmer, with a new role as technical support specialist with Datamars Livestock.
Read more about why we chose Nicole here.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winners for the month of June are Paddy Barrett and John McNamara.
Paddy Barrett, (Carbery) and John McNamara, (Teagasc) on Shinagh Farm, Bandon. (Photo: Andy Gibson)
Since the Carbery Milk Quality Awards were launched in 2004 the standards being applied to milk production in the region have improved immeasurably.
How much that has to do with the actual awards is hard to know, says Paddy Barrett, one of the driving forces behind the initiative. What the Limerick man does know though is that farmers, particularly those from throughout this area, take fierce pride in their work, and key markers like SCC and TBC provide indisputable evidence of milk quality improving year on year.
It’s hard to believe that the Milk Quality Awards are almost 20 years old. Before they were established, each co-op had their own awards, but then John McNamara, Teagasc and Paddy Barrett, quality assurance manager at Carbery were tasked with coming up with a way to do it all under the Carbery umbrella, with the four co-ops combined.
Read more about why we chose Paddy and John here.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winner for the month of July is John Murphy from Clonakilty.
WHEN John Murphy arrived at Clonakilty Agricultural College, 51-years-ago as a student in 1973, little did he know that it would be where he’d spend his entire career – and love every minute of it too.
Originally from Clonmel in Co Tipperary, John grew up on a mixed farm comprising 20 cows, 30 cattle, 25 ewes, and 10 acres of cereal.
The second eldest, and the eldest boy, he always had a huge interest in farming. ‘There was never going to be anything else for me,’ he said.
After his Leaving Cert, the obvious route for him was to attend the college in West Cork – despite having never been that far from home before.
‘There was very little travel back then, and I had never been to West Cork before. Having said that, even people in Clonakilty didn’t know where the college was. My brother in law drove me down and we enquired in the town for directions and no one could tell us! Eventually someone in a butchers put us on the right track!’ John remembered.
As an 18-year-old he relished the one-year course, and made friends for life.
Read more about why we chose John here.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winner for the month of August is Eamon Crowley from Ahiohill
EAMON Crowley is a grafter and a grower. It’s a combination that has made him the country’s only grower/processor of onions.
The 43-year-old never had a ‘light-bulb’ moment to claim the exclusive title, but a blend of circumstance, experience, skill, business acumen, courage, and ambition led him to establish and grow West Cork Veg Solutions to the successful operation it is today.
Read Eamon Crowley's full story here.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winners for the month of September are Sean Dineen, John Quinn, Jack Good and David Forde who are students of Kinsale Community School.
September monthly award is sponsored by:
A DEVASTATING fire in a farm shed was the catalyst for a group of Kinsale Community School students to design an innovative gas dehorner holder.
Their award-winning device is now widely stocked throughout West Cork and beyond, has been endorsed by vets who use it in their day-to-day work, and is also used in other farm scenarios including hoof pairing, dosing, and AI.
Devised by fifth year students, Seán Dinneen (17), John Quinn (16), Jack Good (16), and David Forde (16), the quartet are already looking to identify other gaps in the agri-engineering sector and plan to design further products going forward.
Lisa Finn, Local Enterprise Office Cork North & West with the students when they won the LEO award for West Cork. (Photo: Darragh Kane)
The lads, who are all from farming backgrounds, brainstormed business ideas as part of their Enterprise module in Transition Year.
Seán recalled the fire in his grandfather’s shed in 1999 sparked by a gas dehorner falling on hay, and the rest is history.
The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards - October Monthly Winner is Joe O'Sullivan, Drinagh Co-Op.
Joe O’Sullivan at Lough Hyne in West Cork. Living in Lough Hyne with his wife Nollaig, Joe enjoys spending time with his family and became a grandfather for the first time last year. (Photo: Andy Gibson)October monthly award sponsored by:
TAKING the helm as chief executive of a large co-op at the age of 34 would not be for the fainthearted.
But it’s a role that Joe O’Sullivan fulfilled for three decades at Drinagh Co-op, during which time he transformed it into the thriving enterprise that it is today, thanks to the shrewd business acumen and leadership he’s renowned for.
Among the many progressive-thinking projects he was involved in during his tenure was the purchase of Carbery Group by West Cork’s four co-ops.
You can read Joe's full story here
***
