Mountbellew Agricultural College from Co. Galway has been crowned the overall winners at this year’s Macra and Teagasc Ag College’s Day held earlier this week.
Teams of 12 students from Teagasc and private ag colleges nationwide competed in sport, presentations, and skills learned such as stock judging, tractor driving and teamwork challenges.
The winners of the different challenges at the Ag College’s Day 2023 held at the Salesian Agricultural College in Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick are:
- Overall winners – Mountbellew Ag College;
- Tug of War – Kildalton Ag College;
- NBI Farm Business and Technology Award – Clonakilty Ag College;
- Simulator Challenge – Joint winners, Kildalton Equine and Horticultural College and Mountbellew Ag College;
- FRS Scholarship – Gurteen Ag College;
- Problem Solving Competition – Mountbellew Ag College;
- Tractor Driving Competition – Clonakilty Ag College;
- Special Skills (Stock Judging) – Salesian Ag College, Pallaskenry.
Congratulating Mountbellew Ag College and the students from all the participating colleges, head of knowledge transfer at Teagasc, who was judging on the day, Dr. Stan Lalor said the event showed the good work being done through the education programmes.
In a new initiative, Teagasc will send teams to represent Ireland in a landscape horticulture competition in Switzerland in May, and the Europea Agro Challenge in Slovakia in August.
Scholarship winners
At the Ag College’s Day, which was sponsored by Farm Relief Services (FRS) and National Broadband Ireland (NBI), individuals were required to present on the topic of leadership in sustainability.
Continuing its long-time association with the Macra Challenges Day, FRS Network renewed its sponsorship of a three-month scholarship, which was awarded to Wayne Smith from Gurteen Ag College.
Head of operations for FRS Farm Relief, Colette McInerney commented: “We look forward to having Wayne on board to gain valuable agri-business experience through his scholarship internship with FRS.
“For FRS the scholarship offers us a way to honour our past colleagues and give an agri student the important step forward in their future career in the industry.”
Challenges
FRS Network also sponsored the fencing competition where teams had to construct a fence which was within certain guidelines including on safety, accuracy, and effective communication and teamwork.
The Farm Business and Technology Award, sponsored by NBI, required students to use the technology infrastructure available to them to map out an area of land and plan the area for future sustainable grazing use.
“The students were presented with a very real-world challenge, so it was encouraging to see how they were using online technologies to solve for a specific problem and assist with practical decision making.
“As judges, we were also ensuring students were both environmentally and cost-minded with their solutions,” head of strategic partnerships at NBI, Niall Beirne said.
Congratulating Clonakilty Ag College, which presented a very strong plan that incorporated sustainability, costs and environmental practices, he added that it was reassuring to see how environmentally conscious the students were.