Eugene Ryan from Portlaoise, Co. Laois has won the inaugural Guinness Sustainability Award at the Irish Malting Barley Excellence Awards.
The annual awards acknowledge excellence in malting barley production as well as promoting sustainability in the supply chain.
Eugene Ryan was chosen unanimously by the three independent judges as the stand-out winner of the Guinness Sustainability Award.
The awards were organised by Boortmalt, one of the largest producers of malted barley in the world and hosted by Diageo Ireland, the largest user of malting barley in the country.
Martina Henry, global head of regenerative agriculture, Diageo said:
“[Eugene’s submission] demonstrated a holistic farm management approach and a mature awareness of the complementarity and delicate balance of farm economics, community and environment.
“Sourcing both the right quality of grain, and grain that is produced in harmony with nature, is critical.
“We were extremely impressed with the high quality of efforts and advancements being made by barley farmers overall,” Henry continured.
Every year over 130,000t of sustainably sourced barley are grown by farmers for use at St. James’s Gate. That amounts to 40,000ac – the equivalent of 12,500 Croke park pitches.
Eugene Ryan, winner of the Guinness Sustainability Award said:
“I am absolutely delighted to receive this accolade for such an important subject. Along with my family on the farm, we have been very conscious of the need to do all we can to implement sustainable agricultural practices.
“We will continue to adopt even more sustainable farming practices in the near future to ensure that we are playing our part in protecting the planet to the best of our ability.”
Kildare farmers John and Thomas Finn from Athy, Co. Kildare won the the overall prize for excellence in malting barley production, and with it the Guinness Perpetual Cup.
Guinness Malting Barley Perpetual Cup
Aiming to improve agricultural practice in Ireland, the Royal Dublin Society held national barley competitions before World War Two.
By 1954, different maltsters and barley agents across Munster and Leinster were organising annual competitions to judge the quality of malting barley.
Guinness noted that these competitions have led to an improvement in the quality of barley grown in those regions.
In September 1954, the Guinness Board proposed a national annual barley competition and organised a challenge cup which has been run since with the overall winner’s name inscribed on the original 1954 cup.