Sligo farmer is new NDC farmer ambassador
THE National Dairy Council (NDC), has announced that Sligo Farmer Christopher Tuffy will join the NDC Farmer Ambassador programme.
The current group consists of thirteen Farmer Ambassadors who act as advocates and spokespeople for Ireland’s family-farm-based, grassfed dairy production system.
They are champions for the many initiatives being employed to make Irish dairy more sustainable and environmentally-friendly - and they are all keen to speak about what they are doing and what needs to be done.
Young dairy farmer Christopher Tuffy represents Sligo and was crowned FBD Young Farmer of the Year in 2022.
After completing his Leaving Cert in 2008, Christopher spent a year at Mountbellew Agricultural College and then Kildalton Agricultural College where he completed the Dairy Herd Management course. From there, he accepted a life-changing placement in New Zealand. When an opportunity came up to lease a block near Sligo town,
Christopher’s father backed him and he runs this farm milking 150 cows near Doonally.
Christopher said he was “really delighted to be a new NDC Ambassador. Every time you see agriculture or dairy farming mentioned in mainstream media, it’s something negative and we’re all being portrayed in a negative light. It would be great to show the opposite of that. To show all the good things those dairy farmers like myself are doing. How we’re trying to meet the climate problems head on and how we’re being proactive about the emissions we’re producing. Its very important that we maintain stock numbers at the current level, as if we don’t, there’ll be no future for young farmers in Irish agriculture.”
Working off a fully grass-based system, Christopher supplies Aurivo Co-op and as sustainable dairy production is close to heart, he ranked in the top 10% of herds in their recently introduced carbon index.
Farm Advocacy Manager at NDC Majella McCafferty says NDC were delighted to welcome Christopher to the team of passionate farm ambassadors.
“It’s so important to have new young voices in farming and agriculture who are passionate about their roles as food producers and using technology to deliver cutting edge improvements in farming on a journey to lower emissions. With our Farmer Ambassador programme, we now have that voice and our role is to provide the platforms that they need to tell their stories so that the general public can feel better connected to the production system that puts top quality Irish dairy in the chiller cabinet.”
The Farmer Ambassadors will be promoted via social media, in NDC media relations activity and directly to digital, print and broadcast media who may require a dairy industry spokesperson to talk about Irish dairy from an informed point of view. They are regionally spread throughout the country and available for interview on a broad level of subjects.