Coolanowle Organic Meats, a small family-run organic farm and meat processing business based in Ballickmoyler, Co. Laois has been shortlisted for the 2024 EU Organic Awards.

The goal of the awards is to recognise excellence across the organic value chain, from farmers and restaurants to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and bio-districts.

The family farm in Laois converted to organics in 2001 and started selling organic meats produced on farm. Today, the Mulhalls deliver organic meat throughout the island of Ireland.

Beef and lamb are mostly reared on their own farm with a few local organic farms supplementing their supply occasionally. Pork and bacon is sourced from Wexford, whilst their chickens come from Kildare.

Coolanowle Organic Meats is among three finalists in the "Best organic food retailer" category of this year's awards, together with organic retailers Biogast in Austria and Saifresc in Spain.

The top three projects have been selected for each of the eight categories, representing 24 finalists from 11 countries. The winners of the eight awards will be announced in Brussels on September 23.

This year marks the third edition of the awards, which aim to honour projects that are outstanding, innovative, sustainable, and inspiring, adding real value to organic production and consumption.

This year’s finalists in each category are:

Best organic farmer (female)

Blagovesta Vasilieva, The wild farm Gorno Pole, Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria;
Caroline Devillers, Bel Go Bio, Hollogne-sur-Geer, province of Liège, Belgique;
Reinhild Frech-Emmelmann, Reinsaat GmbH, St. Leonhard am Hornerwald, Lower Austria, Austria.

Best organic farmer (male)

Gianpaolo Mancini, Il sentiero del Riccio, Sicignano degli Alburni, Salerno, Italy;
Tommi Hasu, LuomuMattinen, Oravala, Kouvola, Finland;
Benny Schöpf, Kartoffelkombinat, München, Bavaria, Germany.

Best organic region

Comunidade Intermunicipal do Alto Tâmega e Barroso, Chaves, Portugal;
Comunidad autónoma de Castilla - La Mancha, Spain;
South Savo, Finland.

Best organic city

BioStadt Bremen, Germany;
Cascais, Lisbon district, Portugal;
Las Rozas, Community of Madrid, Spain.

Best organic “bio-district”

Distretto del Cibo Monregalese – Cebano, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italia;
Bioregião de S. Pedro do Sul, Viseu district, Beira alta, Portugal;
Sörmland Bio-district, Sörmland, Sweden.

Best organic food processing SME

Biologon GmbH, Hochfilzen, Tyrol, Austria;
Gino Girolomoni Cooperativa Agricola, Isola del Piano, Montebello, Marche, Italy;
Organic veggie food GmbH/SOTO organic specialities, Bad Endorf, Bavaria, Germany.

Best organic food retailer

BIOGAST GmbH, Zwettl, Lower Austria, Austria;
Coolanowle Organic Meats, Ballickmoyler, County Laois, Ireland;
SAiFRESC, Catarroja, Valencian Community, Spain.

Best organic restaurant/food service

B2 Bio pur GmbH, Binsdorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany;
Biohotel St. Daniel, Štanjel, Primórska region, Slovenia;
Kalf & Hansen, Stockholm, Sweden.

The awards are jointly organised by the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Committee of the Regions, Copa Cogeca and IFOAM Organics Europe.

The jury for the awards consists of representatives from these organisations, as well as representatives from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.