Importance of agriculture highlighted

WHILE the agricultural sector is worth €17 billion to the Irish economy, many people are unaware of its importance locally.

That’s the view of Agri Aware chairman Mairead Lavery, who was speaking at the presentation of second-level school competition awards in the Irish Farm Centre, Dublin, yesterday.

Sligo Grammar School, which completed a project on Connacht Gold Co-op, was announced as the national winner of Agri Aware’s Local Business Buzz competition.

Transition year students from across the country took part in the initiative, which encouraged groups to explore the importance of agri-business.

It also urged them to detail the importance of these industries to the rural community in terms of employment, economic activity and interdependence with other businesses.

Ms Lavery said the initiative was designed to encourage transition year students to investigate the contribution their local agri-business is making in their community.

“The projects received, in the first year of this initiative, demonstrated the huge reliance that many of our local communities have on agribusiness.”

The winning group from Sligo Grammar School and their teachers won an all expenses paid trip to the European Parliament in Brussels this weekend.

This will be for the annual Europe Day, when they will learn about the role of the parliament and how it affects the Irish agricultural sector.