Cork tillage farmer Ted O’Leary has won the award for the best project in the University College Dublin (UCD) diploma course in integrated pest management (IPM).
Ted, who runs a 400ha (1,000ac) tillage enterprise with his father Dermot at Castleview, Conna, is the first farmer to win the award, which is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences.
The prize is an all-expenses paid trip to the intensive course on disease management in wheat and barley, run by the NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany), which was held in Cambridge last month.
Three quarters of the total area is devoted to winter barley with the balance in winter wheat, winter oats and spring barley. All the grain is dried on the farm. They are also involved in the sale of fertilisers and chemicals.
L-R: Ted O’Leary, winner of the Dow AgroSciences’ best project award in the UCD diploma course in integrated pesticide management, with William Corrigan, Dow AgroSciences
The diploma course in pesticide management is co-ordinated by Prof. Tom McCabe of the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science. It involves 15 days of instruction and practical training at UCD and Teagasc Oak Park.
Ted described the course as “hugely beneficial to his business as a tillage farmer”.
William Corrigan, Dow AgroSciences’ national business manager for Ireland, said the company’s sponsorship of the top project award is part of its mission to ensure that its crop protection products are used in the most sustainable way – thereby delivering maximum benefit for tillage growers and society as a whole.