News & Press Room

Macra’s Annual Agricultural Conference, hosted by Carlow Macra an Feirme in conjunction with main sponsors Dawn Meats and Ulster Bank, is being held in the Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow, on Saturday 26th October with the theme “New Cap New Era”. Setting the stage for what is promised to be a very energetic and thought provoking conference, Eric Driver, organising committee chair, said “We are currently in unknown territory with the CAP programme and it is imperative that the young farmers of today and tomorrow make their voice heard and insure the CAP is directed to the active farmer.”

Speakers at the conference are Mairead McGuinness, MEP; Michael Brady, President of the Agricultural Consultants Association; and Alan Renwick, UCD.

The host farms for the tours to be held before the conference on the Saturday morning have been announced as:

Dairy

Fortgranite Farms and John & Caroline Kelly Baltinglass will host the dairy walks.

Beef and Sheep

The Kehoe Family, Williamstown, Rathvilly and Joe, Jane and Simon Byrne, Bunclody respectively.

Tillage

The tillage walks will be hosted by Brophy Agri Services and Kevin Nolan, Grange.

Alternative Enterprise

Teagasc Oakpark.

Thanks are expressed to all these farmers and to Teagasc for so warmly welcoming Macra on to their farms.

Sarah Long, Group Agriculture Manager, Dawn Meats said, “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Macra National Agricultural Conference in Carlow and hope the opportunities during the weekend to visit the farms, attend the national conference and discuss key issues will make this the best Macra weekend yet”.

The annual agricultural conference takes place each year as part of Macra’s annual conference. Thousands of rural young people and young farmers are set to attend the conference in Carlow. As well as the annual agricultural conference, the event is host to a number of All-Ireland finals of Macra competitions including the Irish Farmers Journal Know Your Ag quiz; the AIB Club of the Year and Best New Member competitions; and the Bord Bia Beef and Sheep stockjudging competition. The conference will be officially opened on Friday, the 25th October by Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney.

Dr. Ailish Byrne, Senior Agricultural Manager with Ulster Bank said “Ulster Bank would like to congratulate Macra na Feirme and thank the host farmers for providing this opportunity to young farmers across Ireland.  We hope that they will use these visits to the farms of business minded young farmers who are driving the agricultural industry in Ireland, across a range of farm sectors to their advantage. Those lucky enough to visit with the host farmers should endeavour to implement one new practice on their home farm that they witnessed while visiting with the host farmer”.