Sean scoops young farmer award
BELLURGAN native Sean Roddy won the Most Climate Conscious Farmer of the Year Award at the FBD Macra na Feirme Young Farmer of the Year competition last week.
The 32 year old from the Old Road, Bellurgan works as farm manager on the 800 acre Lyons Demesne, Co Kildare and was nominated for the award by his local Marca club.
A delighted Sean said that the award was ‘unexpected’ but much appreciated as it validates the work being done by Irish farmers to make their farms more sustainable.
He said that he was delighted to be able ‘ to show consumers that this is an area that young farmers in Ireland, and in the UK too, care hugely about and that we are working hard on improving. Winning it as a beef farmer is particularly sweet.’
His work sees him managing 587 acres of farmland and a herd of 190 cattle, all Stablizers, an American breed which was selected for their efficiency.
He explains that everything they do on the farm is aimed at reducing their carbon footprint, from selecting a highly efficient breed of cattle to growing their own fodder.
Other steps which they have taken included changing the fertilizers they use and improving their grass management techniques.
As well as the 190 cattle, the farm also produces potatoes and cereals.
Sean studies agricultural technology and Queens University Belfast, and travelled to New Zealand, where he worked as manager on a number of dairy farms.
He also lived in the UK for five years, working as a ruminant nutritionist as well as collecting data from diary farms for a major retailer as part of its research into making farms more carbon efficient.
Sean has taken that experience and applied it to his job at the Lyons Demesne.
At a time when farming is coming in for criticism in regards to climate change, he points out that Irish beef has a carbon foot 2 and a half times smaller than the global average.
He has set himself an ambitious target to make the farm, not just carbon neutal but to act as a carbon positive farm.
This, he explains is being done through planting more trees and hedgerows and changing farm practices to help pollinators which are important for the ecosystem as well as improving efficiency on the farm.
‘We have done a lot of that work already, we have a highly efficient breed of castle and we will be producing 100 per cent of the fodder needed so we won’t be importing feed.’
Sean modestly says that he is not doing something that a lot of other farmers, particularly young farmers, in working towards making their farms carbon neutral. ‘Farmers are key drivers in improving Ireland’s sustainability and we want to get the message out, that the best way for consumers to reduce their carbon footprint is to buy local produce and support Irish farmers,’ he says.