Women & Agriculture conference taking place in Kilkenny

Hundreds of people will be attending Irish Country Living’s Women & Agriculture conference on Wednesday, October 25 in the Lyrath hotel in Kilkenny. 

Ryan Tubridy was previously announced as the keynote speaker but The Irish Times reported on Tuesday that Tubridy had pulled out.

Ciara Leahy, editor of Irish Country Living, who was due to have a ‘fireside chat’ with Tubridy, told the Irish Times that Brendan Courtney and Sile Seoige will now be speaking at the event.  

Launched in 2008, the conference started as an opportunity for women involved in the farming sector to enjoy an entertaining and informative day out. 

Now, 600 women attend the event annually and it is always sold out.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Finding the Balance’.

Agriculture is always a key focus during the morning of the conference and over the years, there have been informative and important speakers such as the former Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and Simon Coveney, Tara McCarthy, former CEO of Bord Bia and world-renowned succession planning facilitator Lyn Sykes from Australia.

However, the conference also focuses on family life, health and wellbeing. 

In previous years, Majella O’Donnell spoke about living with depression while Áine Lawlor of RTE spoke about her battle in overcoming breast cancer. Breege O’Donoghue wowed the audience when she spoke about her career in Penneys where the brand grew from a single store to over 300 outlets now in 11 countries. 

Psychologist Maureen Gaffney previously spoke about taking a positive outlook in life while David McWilliams had the crowd captivated with his take on Irish economics. 

The audience at the Women & Agriculture conference ranges from women who are farming with their husbands on the family farm to women who are running the farm themselves. 

Tickets for this event are sold out.