William Dennehy wins the Teagasc / FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards 2026

Kerry dairy farmer, William Dennehy was announced as the Teagasc / FBD Environmentally Sustainable Farmer of the Year 2026 at the awards ceremony in County Laois on Thursday, 1st October.

The awards, kindly sponsored by FBD, were presented to five category winners: dairy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing biodiversity, improving soil health, improving water quality and farming with innovation, and to five special recognition awards for preservation and utilisation of heritage grains, establishing agroforestry, management and improvement of breeding, managing hedgerows for ecosystem service delivery and protecting waterways with targeted riparian margins.

About Willian Dennehy’s farm

William Dennehy’s farm demonstrates how productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability can work together. His spring-calving herd produced 497 kilograms of milk solids per cow in 2025 from a predominantly grazed-grass diet, with strong breeding performance and an EBI of €156. High-CBV (Commercial Beef Value) calves are produced for beef farmers, supporting earlier finishing.

Over 55% of the milking platform is carrying clover and 98% of nitrogen applied as protected urea. A soil fertility focus, regular soil testing and lime use underpin grass production.

Located along the Brown Flesk River, William has worked with ASSAP (Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme) to identify water-quality risks and introduced riparian buffers, hedgerows and a reedbed. He actively uses decision-support tools including PastureBase, AgNav, NMP and ICBF, while participating in sustainability programmes. His commitment extends beyond farming through Social Farming, and involvement in his local community.

Find out more about William Dennehy’s farm in the below video:

Leading the way in environmental sustainability

Speaking at the awards, Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, Alex White, who presented the top Award to William Dennehy, said: “I would like to congratulate the overall winner William Dennehy and the other 9 finalists on their achievement. I extend my congratulations to the category and special recognition award winners who each committed to developing a sustainable future for the agri-sector.

“Their motivation and enthusiasm was evident from the video profiles. These farmers are leading the way in environmental sustainability.  We all have a role to play in sharing the stories of these winning farmers and hopefully be an inspiration to other farmers to follow,” Alex White said.

On behalf of the overall sponsor of the Awards, Michael Berkery, Chairman of FBD Trust said: “FBD is proud to sponsor the Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards and to congratulate this year’s winner and finalists.

“The quality of entries highlights the commitment of Irish farmers to delivering real progress in areas such as water quality, soil health and biodiversity. These awards provide an important opportunity to recognise those achievements and to showcase examples of how environmental sustainability can be successfully integrated into profitable farm businesses,” Michael Berkery said.

Professor Frank O’Mara, Director of Teagasc said: “This award is a fantastic celebration of the progress of farmers to improve environmental sustainability while continuing to produce high quality, nutritious food, in a profitable manner. Congratulations to all finalists and all award winners.

Professor Frank O’Mara continued: “These farmers are an inspiration to all farmers in their local area to continue to adopt the key technologies that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality and enhance biodiversity.  Teagasc will continue to support the farming community through an extensive research programme in the area, our advisory service and education programmes.”

The other award winners in the Teagasc / FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards were:

Category Winners

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions – Aileen Sheehan and Philip O’Leary
• Enhancing biodiversity – Peter and Thomas O’Hanrahan
• Improving water quality – William Dennehy
• Improving soil health – Matt Hennessey
• Farming with innovation – Alan McCann

Special Recognition Awards

• Establishing Agroforestry – Michael Gleeson
• Protecting Waterways with Targeted Riparian Margins – John McSweeney
• Management and improvement of breeding – Aonghusa Fahey
• Preservation and utilisation of heritage grains – Maurice Deasy
• Managing hedgerows to enhance biodiversity, capture carbon, and protect farming heritage – Pat and Kayleigh Durkin

Read more about the award-winning farmers here.

Featured image caption: Pictured (from left to right): Professor Frank O’Mara, Director of Teagasc; Michael Berkery, Chair of FBD Trust; Alex White, Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council; Mary Dennehy, William Dennehy, dairy farmer and overall winner of the 2026 Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards; Tomás Ó Midheach, Chief Executive Officer of FBD; and Tom O’Dwyer, Head of Climate and Biodiversity, Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc.