United Dairy Farmers (United), Northern Ireland's largest dairy company and parent of leading food processing business, Dale Farm, has launched two new Awards – an Environment Improvement Award and a Farm Innovation Award - to recognise the positive contribution dairy farmers make to the environment and their resourcefulness when it comes to ideas to improve their enterprise.
The winners in each category will receive £500 for 1st place and £250 for 2nd place. In addition, the winner of the Environment Improvement Award will also receive a trip to the European Dairy Farmer's Congress to be held in Holland in June. Open to all United members and their families, the closing date for entries is April 30th and the winners will be announced during this year's Balmoral Show.
The Environment Improvement Award will focus on progressive farms that have successfully undertaken environmental initiatives/improvement projects that have improved the sustainability of their farm enterprise. The projects could cover areas such as the use of resources like energy and water; waste management and recycling; water quality the improvement of habitats, and the judges will be looking for a holistic approach to the environment.
For the Farm Innovation Award, United is looking for the best farm equipment, infrastructure or management ideas that have reduced costs, simplified farm activity or improved farm performance. As these ideas will be beneficial to other farms, it is a pre-requisite that members are willing to share their ideas for the benefit of others.
The judges for the awards will include Ulster Bank's Cormac McKervey, former UFU President John Gilliland, Alex McGarel of the World Wildlife Fund, Ian McCluggage of DARD, Bob Barbour from the NI Centre for Competitiveness, James Walker and Brian Hunter of United.
Speaking at the launch, United Chairman Harold Hamilton said, "Dairy farmers work with the environment on a daily basis and are innovative, resourceful and good problem solvers, so I am confident there will be a large number of entries, in both categories, all worthy of recognition.
"Sometimes it is the simplest of ideas or solutions that create maximum impact and that could also be of benefit to other farmers. This is exactly what we are looking for in the Farm Innovation Award. The ideas or projects needn't have cost a lot of money or be overly sophisticated. What we are looking for are practical ideas that have produced results, and I would certainly encourage members to apply."
Cormac McKervey of Ulster Bank also commented, "These Awards are a tremendous way to acknowledge and encourage the good work that dairy farmers carry out on a daily basis, often without recognition and, as such, Ulster Bank is privileged to be involved and associated with this."
Entry forms are available by contacting United on 028 9037 2093 or through a United Field Officer. From the entries a short list will be selected from each category, who will then be visited by the judging panel before a final decision is made. The Awards are open to United members and their families. Entries should be returned to The Secretary, United Dairy Farmers, Dale Farm House, 15 Dargan Road, Belfast BT3 9LS by the closing date of April 30th.
