Fernhill House Hotel recently hosted the prestigious Carbery Milk Quality and Sustainability Awards.
BY JOHN SEXTON
FERNHILL House Hotel recently hosted the prestigious Carbery Milk Quality and Sustainability Awards.
From the many shortlisted finalists, who were all worthy of inclusion, the overall prize was awarded to Nigel Daunt a new entrant to dairying, after only moving out of suckler cows to beef in 2017. Nigel operates a 106-acre farmer from Coolculitha, Innishannon, milking a herd of 65 cows.
Speaking at the event Dr Patrick Wall, Professor of Public Health at UCD, stated that ‘the standards you have set here in West Cork is an example to the world of what a small area can deliver, by making an absolute commitment to only producing top-quality milk.’
He went on to elaborate on the many markets which Carbery has developed throughout the world and added that, from his travels, it is apparent to him that the achievements of Carbery and its farmer shareholders are unique within the diary industry and set to go from strength to strength with the further developments planned, including the new mozzarella plant at Ballineen.
Peter Fleming, chairman of Carbery Group, and Jason Hawkins, CEO, congratulated everyone that has either won awards or were in the running for one of the awards.
Mr Hawkins said: ‘Each year the quality of entries for the Carbery Quality Milk Awards continues to impress. The high standard of products produced by Carbery is thanks to farmers like Nigel Daunt, who put a huge amount of work into their farm, and the quality of milk they are producing is testament to that.
‘He has reached an excellent standard, as have the rest of our finalists, and are a credit to dairy farming in West Cork. Carbery’s success has been built thanks to the quality of milk produced by our suppliers and we congratulate them all on winning these awards,’ he added.
Owned by farming families, Carbery Group processed 536 million litres of milk in 2018, to produce award-winning cheeses and food ingredients in Ballineen, which were sold in over 50 international markets across the world.
“Our final word of thanks goes to all the families, friends and employees who support the farmers here this evening. Farming is a tough job and without your support, none of us would be here this evening and Carbery would not be the global success it is today.”
