Sustainable Pasture Progress Awards 2025
There has been sizeable progress made in pasture management, clover establishment and environmental footprint over the last eight years of the Grass10 campaign.
Launching the Grassland awards, as part of the Grass10 campaign were: Front: Sean McMahon, Grassland Agro, Liam Herlihy, Teagasc Chairman, Michael Berkery, FBD Trust, Martin Heydon TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, John Macnamara, Grass10 Chairman. Back: Aidan Bugler, Teagasc, Donal Walsh, AIB, David Cummins, DAFM, Lorcan Roche Kelly, Irish Farmers Journal, Paul Maher, Teagasc, Mary Dunphy, FBD.
Managing grassland with less nitrogen fertiliser inputs and with greater reliance on biological nitrogen from clover can reduce cost of production, increase animal performance and reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions.
The Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year competition has run successfully for the last 8 years. This has been a key pillar of the Grass10 campaign in helping farmers to achieve better grazing management practices. Many farmers have made great progress and have become ambassadors for the Grass10 campaign. Further progress can still be made on the level of pasture production and utilisation.
The Sustainable Pasture Progress Awards
As part of the Grass10 Phase 3 campaign, a new approach is being taken for the competition. The Sustainable Pasture Progress Awards will recognise those farmers who demonstrate and continue to progress their levels of pasture production and utilisation in a sustainable manner. This competition will be open all livestock farmers.
Data from PastureBase Ireland and AgNav databases, will be used to identify the award winners. The criteria that will be used to assess applicants will be progression with pasture performance, level of pasture measurement, level of clover content, nutrient management and recording, usage of PastureBase tools, animal output, nutrient balance and carbon footprint. The focus of the competition is to reward those farmers who are making progress in all aspects of pasture management.
Prize Winners
This is a national recognition event with a total fund of €35,000 per year. An award of €1,000 will be made to a farmer from each county in the Republic of Ireland based on the above criteria. Regional winners will be selected from Munster, Leinster and Connacht/Ulster and these winners will receive an additional prize of €2,000. An overall winner will be recognised and will receive an additional prize of €3,000.
A pasture progress celebration event will take place to celebrate the progress being made in the area of pasture management. The awards will be presented by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Grass10 Campaign
The Grass10 campaign aims to increase the quantity of pasture utilised on livestock farms (dairy, beef and sheep), with the objective of achieving 10 tons pasture Dry Matter per hectare per year utilised, with 10 grazings per paddock each year. The Grass10 campaign is supported by Teagasc, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, AIB, FBD, Grassland Agro and the Farmers Journal.