Cavan farmers win big at Dairy Awards

Two Cavan farmers came away with awards at the inaugural National Dairy Awards last Thursday night.

Cavan farmer, Lorcan McCabe was crowned AXA Biodiversity Dairy Farmer of the year for 2023 while Sophie Bell claimed the Green Acre Marketing Social Media Ambassador of the year.

Sophie Bell hails from Virginia and has been using social media over the past couple of years to authentically show her farming life in Ireland. Sophie has over 20k followers on Instagram and 7k followers on TikTok. they follow her family as they run their 54 acre farm at Lisgrey, where they contract rear dairy heifers.

The Green Acre Marketing Social Media Ambassador of the year highlights dairy farmers who have demonstrated exceptional use of social media to promote the dairy industry and engage with the public, sharing their passion for dairy farming and its vital role in society.

“I think it's very important to show the general public how the dairy industry works, and maybe provide a role model for the younger generation who might want to go into the industry,” Sophie tells the Celt of why she showcases her dairy work online.

“Dairying does get a backlash in the media - it's important to put the facts out there about how beneficial it is to Ireland and the local economy.”

Sophie was thrilled to get the award.

“I didn't expect it - I was up against some really great people in the industry. It's really great to know your work is recognised and people think highly of it - it's encouraging to do more with it.”

Invaluable

Lorcan McCabe, a Bailieborough native claimed the AXA Biodiversity Dairy Farmer of the year based on his entry, consistently working to incorporate the latest and best practices in sustainable farming into his family farm and devoting a significant portion of his land to biodiversity conservation.

Speaking highly of his entry, one judge said “His use of his positions at a national level to tackle common misconceptions that biodiversity is a threat to farmers’ profitability is invaluable to biodiversity conservation.”

Lorcan gave most of the credit for his award to his daughter Shannon who filled out the application form and “did a better job than any journalist”.

Insisting he’s “not a tree-hugger by any stretch of the imagination” he was motivated to play his part.

“I want to show, instead of farmers fighting with environmentalist, if we do a little it means an awful lot.”

Seventeen awards were presented on the night at the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.