Laois leaders feature in prestigious upcoming awards

The Laois man who recently led young farmers across Ireland is to officially commence a prestigious farming scholarship at an upcoming conference where the late IFA leader and Laois man Padraig Walsh will be honoured.

John Keane, a dairy and beef farmer from Errill, is one of the recipients of a Nuffield Ireland scholarship for 2024.  He will officially commence the scholarship at Nuffield Ireland annual conference where there will be new award in honour of the late Nuffield Scholar, Padraig Walshe who passed away last February. 

A graduate of University College Dublin with a BSc in Dairy Business in 2014, Mr Keane only recently completed his term as the President of Macra na Feirme.

As part of John’s Nuffield Ireland Scholarship, he will investigate routes to the eradication of Bovine TB here in Ireland. John’s passion for the eradication of the disease comes from firsthand experience, along with seeing the impact the disease has on farmers and their families whilst being Macra na Feirme's National President.    

He then travelled to New Zealand to work in agriculture and broaden his experiences. Since returning home to full-time farming in 2016, John has been an active member of discussion groups, Macra na Feirme, and his local GAA club.    
 
The Nuffield Ireland conference, will be officially opened by Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Pippa Hackett and will hear presentations from four returning Nuffield Ireland Scholars. The theme for this year’s conference is “Finding Common Ground” between consumers and the farming community which will be discussed by agri-communicator and keynote speaker Amy Jackson, Director of Oxtale and Nuffield UK 2012 Scholar. 
 
One of the presenting scholars will also be the inaugural recipient of a new award in honour of the late Padraig Walshe from Durrow who passed away last February. 

Joe Leonard, Nuffield Ireland Chairperson, spoke about the inaugural Padraig Walshe Award.

“This award will be given annually to the best presentation by a returning scholar, as voted on by the conference attendees. The award will include a beautiful perpetual trophy which is Ronan Halpin’s Queen Maebh’s Bull and a ticket to a major international agricultural conference or event. Our 2022 Scholars will be the first to compete for the Nuffield Ireland Padraig Walshe Award. This award will honour Padraig’s memory and legacy into the future,” he said. 

Nuffield says its farming scholarship is a leadership development programme, in which scholars who demonstrate potential are given a bursary to travel, research and present a report on their chosen topic.

Nuffield Ireland says its mission is to discover, inspire and support people to develop their capacity, character and confidence to promote positive change and world-class leadership in agriculture, food and farming.

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Nuffield Ireland is part of Nuffield International, a global network which includes Nuffield organisations in 8 countries. 

The conference takes place on Friday, November 10 in the Mount Wolseley Hotel, Tullow, Co.Carlow.