2027 RDS Teagasc Farm Forestry Award – deadline extended
The call for entries for the 2027 RDS Forestry Awards, including the RDS/Teagasc Farm Forestry Award, has been extended. Entries will continue to be accepted up to Friday 23rd October 2026. Teagasc Forestry Advisor, Noel Kennedy tells us more.
The 2027 RDS Teagasc Farm Forestry Award recognises farmers who demonstrate leadership and innovation to successfully integrate their farm and forestry enterprises.
Farming and forestry can complement each other in many ways to drive farming and wider sustainability. This integrated approach is at the heart of the RDS Teagasc Farm Forestry Award. The 2027 Award winner will receive €3,000 and an RDS Silver Medal with a prize of €1,200 and an RDS Certificate of Merit for the runner-up.
The Teagasc Farm Forestry Award Category aims to promote the positive sustainable contribution of forestry as an integral enterprise within the wider active farming profile. It acknowledges the farmer’s role in actively managing the forest and promoting farm forestry as a key underpinning of wider farming sustainability encompassing sound commercial management, environmental protection and encouragement of biodiversity.
Teagasc Farm Forestry Award – eligibility criteria for entries include:
- Open to working farmers, integrating farming and forests
- Applications can include conifer, broadleaf, agroforestry or reforestation sites
2026 RDS Teagasc Farm Forestry Award Winner
The winner of the 2026 RDS Teagasc Farm Forestry Award was Kildare organic suckler farmer Stephen Morrison.
Farming on 120 hectares near Kill, Co. Kildare, Stephen Morrison has an organic herd of spring calving suckler cows with all progeny brought to beef on the farm. Over the last six years, he has planted 24 hectares of new native forests bringing a range of practical, environmental and sustainability benefits to his suckler enterprise, wellness enterprise and farm as a whole.
The RDS forestry judges were impressed by how Stephen’s farming story of successful diversification into forestry highlights how farms and forests can work so well together to support the family farm with strong economic, practical, social and environmental benefits.
Stephen’s award winning forest was the location for recent well attended forestry management walk, co-ordinated by local Teagasc forestry advisor Liam Kelly.
The 2027 RDS Teagasc Farm Forestry Award is your opportunity to be recognised for your farming and forestry achievements.
To apply, simply download the Teagasc Farm Forestry Award application form from the RDS Farm Forestry Award webpage, or for more information contact your local Teagasc forestry advisor.