Agricultural businesses across the island are being called on to get behind MartAid 2020 – a new rural initiative which aims to bring the farming community together to back a cause close to the heart of rural Ireland.

MartAid 2020 – a new initiative that is being organised by online mart trading facility MartEye – is calling on farming firms both north and south to make a donation – all of which will be gathered and put under the hammer for charity at a monster auction next month.

Taking place at 6:00pm on Thursday, November 5, MartAid will see a rolling auction jumping from one mart to the next across Ireland for an all-island experience.

The mammoth mart marathon will involve the 25 marts which operate MartEye systems, each rapidly auctioning eye-catching offerings in a given slot in the event – which is expected to last well into the night.

All funds raised on the night will go to Embrace FARM, the farm accident support network charity.

Explaining the concept of MartAid, Jamie Nolan of MartEye said: “Charities have had a very tough year due to Covid-19 and they really need all the help they can get. So, we thought why not bring it all together.

“We looked at a number of charities throughout but we felt Embrace FARM ticked all the right boxes for us.

“Embrace FARM is a charity that covers all 32 counties in Ireland providing support to the families of farm accidents and bereavements.

“The charity does huge work here and it needs all the help it can get – because farm accidents are becoming all too common.”

Some huge donations have been made by companies and marts to date including the following selection:
    1. A training session with Ireland and Lions rugby legend Sean O’Brien;
    2. A team talk with the 18-time all Ireland winner and Cork Legend Rena Buckley – courtesy of Cork Marts;
    3. A training session with all Ireland winning Galway hurling star Joe Canning – courtesy of Loughrea Mart;
    4. Six MooCall sensors – courtesy of Enniscorthy Farm Systems;
    5. Five dash cam cameras from PC Pro;
    6. A Fendt jacket from Kehoe Brothers, Tullow;
    7. A €400 voucher from O’Donovan Engineering in Co. Cork;
    8. €200 worth of AI straws – courtesy of Bova AI;
    9. Two calving camera self install kits – courtesy of Agricams.ie;
    10. Two signed Liverpool jerseys signed by Jamie Carragher – courtesy of Enniskillen Mart;
    11. £100 voucher for McCullagh Farm Machinery;
    12. €100 voucher for Tullow Mart;
    13. Two 20-bag lots of beef crunch from Tullow Mart;
    14. Training session with All-Ireland winning Cork footballer Noel O’Leary – courtesy of Macroom Mart; and
    15. An animal feed voucher for Southern Milling.

Any companies that would like to donate to this worthy cause or volunteer in any capacity can contact Jamie directly on: 087-6016550; or email [email protected].

Over the coming weeks all the lots can be found on the MartAid website when it goes live here.

All lots will be sold in the MartEye marts local to the company that donated the Item, with some celebrity guests expected to make a mart appearance on the night.