Midleton farm family is winner of Dairygold malting barley competition
Malting barley winners Denis and Ann O'Connor with Liam O'Flaherty, general manager at Dairygold Agri Business; Conor Galvin, chief executive of Dairygold Co-op; Liam Leahy, Dairygold beef and tillage manager; and Gerard O’Dwyer, vice-chairman of Dairygold Co-op.
The O'Connor family from Midleton has been announced as the overall winner of this year's Dairygold malting barley competition.
Denis O'Connor and his Maria along with his parents Denis and Ann have grown their enterprise in Ballyvodock, south of Midleton town in recent years as they adapted from sugar beet farming.
According to Mr O'Connor, the farm is an ideal site for malting barley as the ground is free-draining and can be worked from late January, which offers the opportunity to plant cover crops after cereal harvest, to enhance organic matter and carbon retention.
The O'Connor family was acknowledged by Dairygold for their dedication to farming sustainably, and soil sampling every three years to ensure that the land has the right nutrient levels.
"We farm very early ground and look on this as a massive asset to us, that’s our strength and we capitalise on it," Mr O'Connor said.
Congratulating the O'Connors, Dairygold vice chairman Ger O'Dwyer said that the family "showcase the very best of innovative and sustainable farming practices".
"They have a deep commitment to nurturing the land and its resources," Mr O'Dwyer said.
"Their victory shows their dedication to a more sustainable agricultural future."
The O'Connor family was also the regional winner from mid-Cork.
The other finalists in this year’s Dairygold Malting Barley competition were Michael Archdeacon, who grows a variety of cereal crops and has a bull beef business in the Blackwater Valley; the Nicholson family in Crosshaven, who farm a mixed tillage and livestock farm; and Michael Aherne with a tillage and beef enterprise in Cahir, south Tipperary.
Last year, Dairygold crowned the Deasy family from Aherla the overall winner of the 2023 malting barley competition at its annual tillage conference.
