The final six contestants competing for the FBD Young Farmer of the Year 2019 competition have been announced.
In a statement today, Tuesday, November 26, Macra na Feirme outlined that the six were chosen from the 24 finalists which made it to the national round.
The final six contestants will now compete for the overall title of FBD Young Farmer of the Year.
- Shane Fitzgerald, a dairy farmer from Waterford;
- Liam Hanrahan, a dairy farmer from Clare;
- Brendan Gorman, a dairy farmer from Kildare;
- Edward Egan, a tillage and grassland farmer from Roscommon;
- Alan Doyle, a beef and sheep farmer from Kilkenny; and
- Daniel Hickey, a poultry farmer from Carbery.
Category winners and the overall winner will be announced tonight at the FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards at the FBD Castleknock Hotel in Dublin.
O’Shea to step away from Agri Aware
In other rural organisation news, Deirdre O’Shea has announced her decision to resign as executive director of Agri Aware, effective from February of next year.
In a message to patrons of Agri Aware, O’Shea said: “I would like to inform you that I have notified the Agri Aware board of directors today of my decision to resign from my position as executive director of Agri Aware, effective February 2020.”
She continued: “I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you all for your support over the past three years.
I look forward to continuing to work with you over the next three months until my departure, and no doubt our paths will cross in the future.
O’Shea concluded her message by wishing the group “every success in the future”.
O’Shea’s tenure as executive director – a role she took on in November 2016 – has met with personnel success as well as professional success.