Dr Edmond Harty, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012, and CEO and technical director of Dairymaster, will head up a team of judges for the prestigious FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards.
Harty will chair the final judging panel of Macra na Feirme’s competition on 3 September in the Dunraven Arms Hotel, Adare, Co Limerick. Kerry-based Dairymaster is among the top world leaders in the development and manufacture of dairy farm equipment.
Harty will be joined on the judging panel by Eoin Lowry, Irish Farmers Journal; Joe Burke, Bord Bia; Philip O’Connor of IFAC Accountants; with Joe Healy and Thomas Honner, both past presidents of Macra na Feirme.
The FBD Young Farmer of the Year is run by Macra na Feirme in partnership with the Irish Farmers Association. The overall winner of the competition will receive a bursary to undertake international travel and study farm practices. Prizes will be awarded to first, second and third place as well as to winners of the Innovation and Community Involvement Awards.
The 24 county finalists will each compete in the national semi-finals taking place this week, 27-29 August. Six overall finalists will then go through to the final on the 3 September.
The FBD Young Farmer of the Year County Finalists listed below:
| Eoin O’Byrne | Carlow |
| Annieka Cadden | Cavan |
| Colm Ryan | Clare |
| John T Mullins | Avondhu, Cork |
| John Buckley | Carbery, Cork |
| Donal Sweeney | Seandun, Cork |
| John Michael Fitzgerald | Kerry |
| Gerald Harney | Galway |
| Thomas Hassett | Kilkenny |
| Richard Bond | Laois |
| Colm Stenson | Letrim |
| Tim Scanlon | Limerick |
| James Twaddle | Longford |
| Aidan Luddy | Louth |
| Pat Keane | Mayo |
| Peter Farrell | Meath |
| Paul Molloy | Offaly |
| Ed Payne | Roscommon |
| David McDonagh | Sligo |
| Mike Ahern | North Tipperary |
| Hugh Michael Brown | South Tipperary |
| Esther Walsh | Waterford |
| Michael McCormack | Westmeath |
| James Turner Jnr | Wexford |
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