ACCBank, ICBF, Teagasc and the Irish Farmers Journal have announced the opening of the Dairy Discussion Group Competition 2013. The competition, now in its second year, was launched with the objective of stimulating discussion among dairy discussion groups to allow for the development of the stronger bonds between members; and to encourage dairy discussion groups to develop profit or lifestyle based innovations for widespread farm adoption.

The competition, with an ACCBank sponsored fund of up to €20,000, will encourage and reward dairy discussion groups who engage in specified projects in 2013. The competition is open to all discussion groups.

Brendan McGarry, of the winning West Offaly group said they benefited hugely from participating in the competition.

“Apart from delivering the actual project, it gave us a great focus and definitely improved the bond between members of our group, as well as providing some unexpected benefits, such as improving our IT skills.”

In addition to the main innovation competition, a set of project packs have been compiled for use by discussion groups. These packs are based on last year’s projects. Groups that do not wish to devise a completely new project from scratch, but rather adopt some of the great ideas that have already been developed, can complete one of these project packs.