The Teagasc / FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards for 2025 were launched this week by Teagasc, with generous support from FBD.
The Teagasc / FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards aim to promote environmentally sustainable farming and highlight the progress that farmers are making to reduce their impact on the environment, while continuing to produce high quality, nutritious food, in a profitable manner.
This is the second year of the awards, and last year the winners of the competition demonstrated the capacity to operate sustainable, profitable farming systems, whilst incorporating the latest scientific developments and technologies on their farms, reducing their greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions, improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, and improving soil health and carbon.
Speaking at the launch, Professor Frank O’Mara, Director of Teagasc, highlighted that “producing food in an environmentally sustainable fashion is perhaps the biggest challenge facing Irish farmers currently”.
Many farmers are doing a great job farming in an environmentally friendly manner, and we need to hear more of these positive stories of farmers taking steps on their farms to reduce their farm’s environmental footprint, while continuing to produce high quality food profitably.
He said; “Farmers have a key role to play in meeting our environmental challenges and these awards aim to encourage more farmers to make a start and take a step towards a more sustainable future.”
Chairman of FBD Trust, Michael Berkery commented; “In FBD we are delighted to sponsor the Environmental Sustainability Awards, to celebrate the outstanding efforts of farmers who are addressing one of the biggest challenges facing Irish agriculture today—producing high-quality food in an environmentally sustainable way. We are delighted to see these awards return for a second year, to shine a spotlight on innovative farming practices that balance environmental stewardship with maintaining output and profitability.”
The launch of the 2025 Awards took place on the farm of the 2024 award winners John and Brendan Walsh from Ballylooby, County Tipperary.
This competition is now open for entries to all farmers from all of the main enterprises. The closing date for entries is Thursday, 6 March 2025. Farmers can apply for the awards at www.teagasc.ie/environmentawards.
The prize money for these awards is generous, with €30,000 in prize money. The overall award winner will receive €10,000.
The awards will be presented in late September, 2025. The overall sponsor of the awards is FBD Insurance. They are supported by ICBF, Bord Bia, and AgNav.
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