Wexford students look to make Irish beef a global leader

As part of the ongoing series of the finalists for the Certified Irish Angus School Competition 2024, meet the third team in the finals, students from FCJ Bunclody

From left: Hollie-Mae Power Sinnott, Stephanie O’Dwyer, and Grace Warren at the European Parliament in Brussels.

In our third instalment, we follow the FCJ Bunclody team, Hollie-Mae Power Sinnott and Grace Warren from Co Wexford.

The girls are the first team to represent their school in the Certified Irish Angus School Competition and were shot to the final with their project titled ‘Positioning Ireland as a global leader in sustainable beef production’.

With Ms Warren coming from a sheep farming background and Ms Power Sinnott hailing from a beef and tillage farm, the girls felt well-equipped for the competition, alongside their teacher, Ms O’Dwyer.

The girls’ work aimed to show how Ireland can lead by example on a global level with Irish Angus beef, highlighting PGI status, family farming, and multispecies systems.

From left: Hollie-Mae Power Sinnott, and Grace Warren at the Croke Park exhibition of their project

The research for their project will focus on examining the knowledge farmers have about sustainability in farming, investigating the effects of multi-species swards and their impact on slaughter performance and farm sustainability, and learning about consumers’ eating habits and coming up with ideas to incorporate more beef in daily diets.

The pair also aimed to compare the importance of women in the role of agriculture in Ireland to other countries across the world and connect with leading female researchers in an effort to demonstrate how the Irish beef industry compares to other global counterparts.

Through their project, the girls were able to connect with female researchers from Canada, the USA, South Korea, Brazil, Iran, and New Zealand, to help in their research comparing Irish Angus beef production to others, as well as how sustainability practices compare between the countries.

Sometimes Ireland, especially in farming and agriculture, is placed in a negative light. In terms of being labelled the biggest causes of global warming. We wanted to place it in a positive light that we are actually doing really well compared to other parts of the world,” explained Ms Warren.

The girls also connected with Bord Bia’s Shauna Jager, who educated the pair on the well-positioned and high-quality beef industry in Ireland.

Taking inspiration from their own lives, with Ms Power Sinnott being a celiac, the girls produced their own burger, the Bó-goer, to promote the versatility and accessibility of Irish Angus beef across various diets.

The students’ five calves: Poppy, Fernando, Charlie, Benny and William were raised on Ms Power Sinnott’s family farm in Wexford. The calves grazed on multispecies swards following the girls’ trip to the ABP demo farm in Clonegal and Teagasc Johnstown. 

Seeing the positive results there, they replicated it back in Wexford. The pair were delighted with their calves’ progress, with the animals averaging 600kg ahead of their slaughter in August of this year on their sward mix of white clover, plantain, red clover and perennial rye grass.

From left: Hollie-Mae Power Sinnott, Grace Warren with their Angus calves on Hollie's farm

The team told the Irish Examiner that over the next few months they plan to visit local primary schools to help educate children about where beef comes from and why it is so special in Ireland.

The pair also plan to create a LinkedIn page to promote their project, knowledge they have collected from their connections with female researchers across the globe, and to showcase Irish beef and their celiac-safe burger to a wider audience, showcasing their hard work while also spreading awareness of Irish beef.

Back in March, the Bunclody students were taken on a trip as part of the competition, travelling to Tesco HQ and Bord Bia to present their projects with the other finalists. They got a behind-the-scenes look at how meat cuts are processed and packaged before hitting the shelves at Hilton Foods, Drogheda.

The finalists also participated in a steak cooking competition at Lismullin Cookery School in Navan, before jetting off to Brussels. Like the other finalists, the girls presented their project to MEPs in the European Parliament.

The Bunclody pair were very encouraging for those interested in the competition to apply and see where it goes. 

“The competition is so unique that it's nice to make friends with people who have similar interests,” Ms Power Sinnott said, with Ms Warren adding: “I think that both of us were completely different people, like we've come on so much in terms of confidence and communication skills, and we just had a great time.”