Irish innovators clinch three of seven awards at SIMA
Nick Cotter of Cotter Brothers Firewood, forestry and organic sheep on his family farm at Dromtrasna, North Limerick. Picture: Dan Linehan
Irish agricultural innovators have been punching above their weight, claiming three of the seven top prizes at the SIMA Farming Awards.
Irish winners Ailbhe Gerrard, Nick Cotter, and Ray Ó Foghlú were announced at a special ceremony during the 79th edition of SIMA, one of the biggest international exhibitions of technologies for high-performance and sustainable agriculture.
The show began on Sunday (November 6) and finishes today (November 10) in Paris Nord Villepinte.
SIMA Farming Awards are run in partnership with AXEMA and the Nuffield International network. The new European competition rewards and reveals the most innovative European agricultural practices from among the show’s farming visitors.
This year seven winners out of the 14 nominees have been designated for their sustainable transition approaches and their ability to demonstrate the societal, economic, and environmental impact of their innovation.
Irish winners included:
Limerick sheep farmer Nick Cotter created a software program that allows farmers to accurately track the needs of the animal.
The system allows farmers to switch from general treatment with deworming drugs to targeted treatment, treating only the animals that really need it.
Tipperary woman Ailbhe Gerrard has used her 30-hectare Brookfield Farm to fulfil her vision to reconnect people with agriculture.
Ailbhe sees farming as a creative and collaborative activity and has worked with farming communities, independent farmers, artists and, scientists to promote the importance of crop diversification and a fairer and stronger agricultural system.
West Clare forester Ray works with 12 other farms on the Farm-Forest Project. This project aims to preserve the environment, connect farmers and improve the quality of life for cattle.
Winners from further afield included EDT Perspective from France, who won the Farming Contractors category for their management system certified by the ISO 14001 standard. EDT aims to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, whilst also allowing for better fleet management and enforcing core health and safety practices.
David Paillat, also from France, won the Energy category. David has been developing a project for a collective agricultural digester since 2015 for 12 farmers in cogeneration and launched a project for a BioCNG station in 2022 for professional and personal energy self-sufficiency.
Marine and Jean Sébastien Schils topped the New Markets category for their efforts to diversify their family farm through cereals and flax, livery, the production of small bales of straw and hay, and organic barley drinking straws.
However, the top prize of the event went to Roland Van Asten from the Netherlands, who picked up the Judges' Special Award for his unique natural fermentation solution developed to prevent disease in his pigs and improve growth rates. Mr Van Asten developed the process on his sustainably-operated farm, which uses renewable energy and biogas.
