Award winning students address Longford IFA AGM

Last week, Longford IFA held two significant events in the County with the Longford IFA AGM taking place in the Rugby Club on Tuesday and a farmer’s protest on Thursday (see pages 1 & 7), in the form of 50 tractors gathering on the Longford by-pass and driving through the town.

The well attended Longford AGM was addressed by guest speaker, Damian McDonald, Director General of the Irish Farmers Association, who gave a detailed presentation to the Longford members.

His account covered a wide variety of issues and challenges facing farmers such as changes in taxation, farm schemes issues, regulation and restriction on farming, commodity market Information, IFA membership benefits and the myriad of ways in which IFA represents farmers from Department appeals to Debt support services and general advice.

IFA Life Honorary Membership was presented to Seamus Treacy, Ballinalee, in recognition of his many years of work, covering many Officer roles with Longford IFA.
Gavin White, Abbeyshrule, was presented with the JJ Farrell Memorial Cup in recognition of his ongoing work and support to Longford farmers.

John Sheridan, Longford County Chairperson, had also invited the award-winning student trio from Ballymahon Vocational School, who recently took the ABP Sustainable Farming award at the Young Scientist Competition, to address the AGM.
The three students, Keira Hopkins, Grace Cassells and Lara Flood took the farmers through the main findings of their project “Are Cow Collars worth the hype” and thanked the many farmers who partook in their survey research, who provided vital information to form the basis of the project.
John Sheridan thanked the officers for their ongoing work and support and is looking forward to the challenges for the year ahead as he continues in his role as Longford IFA Chairperson.