The room erupted whenDairymasterCEODr Edmond Harty announced that the community initiative carried away the prize fund of €15,000.

The awards are run in conjunction with the Irish Farmers Journal, Teagasc and Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture.

Eileen Comerford impressed the judges withRecovery Haven'sstory of determination, innovation and the way it went about developing its services throughout Kerry.

“These awards are all about the people, it's people who innovate. Whether by accident or breaking rules, they find a way," said Harty. “Innovation is like baking a cake: once you get the right ingredients, it’s what you do with those ingredients that makes the difference. In rural communities and businesses, innovation is the difference between thriving and dying. As a company, we’ve always focused on innovation but we have also experienced the benefit of having that work recognised. That’s why these awards had to be established and why Dairymaster is sponsoring them,” he added.

Overall and Community winner

Recovery Haven Kerry is entirely dependent on innovative community fundraising events run by its volunteer committee. Their annual budget requirement is €180,000 and they get little or no support from the HSE.

With help from 97 volunteers, they provide psychological and social support, information and drop-in service for those living with cancer, their families and carers. At present, services are being provided in Tralee, with limited outreach service in Killarney and Caherciveen. Their aim is to cover the county of Kerry.

Speaking after the awards ceremony, Eileen Comerford said: "The centre is run for the well-being of others. We all take enormous pride in its success and hope our services grow and continue long into the future."

On-farm innovation category winner

Fresh Extend, a natural system to extend the life of fruit and vegetables in cold stores, won the on-farm innovation category and €3,000 in prize money.

Brian Hampton, an apple grower in Armagh, developed the idea after he started monitoring ethylene gas levels in his stores. Ethylene gas is the natural ripening gas that all fruit and vegetables give off, shortening their storage potential.

He knew that removing the gas would benefit growers and fruit wholesalers. His machine and system offer cost-effective solutions for small- to large-scale producers and fruit and veg handlers. “It will also give local producers a marketing pitch and help them compete against imported produce, which is sometimes harvested immature, then treated with chemicals and wax so it can endure a long sea voyage,” Hampton said.

“If by this we could even take an extra five per cent of market share, it would provide a lot of rural producer businesses extra revenue,” he added.

The average machine costs £1,500, but he can design for anycold storesize with the smallest machine costing just £500. He has sold 25 machines.

Rural Business category winner

Samco Bag press machine, a low cost solution to on-farm storage of high-quality fermented feed without the need for drying, won the Rural Farm Business and €3,000 in prize money. Samco is already well known for their innovation around plastic when planting maize.

Having seen the concept in other countries, they put their engineering expertise to creating a machine with a large hopper that packs feeds into a plastic bag for storage. The Samco Bag Press system is ideal for buffer feeding during the grazing season and storing forage maize, brewer’s grain, chopped sugar beet and other such products.

The Bag Press is also available with a crimper; the bulk hopper can easily be removed from the body and the crimper can be fitted onto the Samco chassis, which has the capacity to crimp and bag up to 40 tonne per hour of moist grain, beans and other products.

Community category finalists

  • Social Farming Across Boundaries (SOFAB) promote the use of family farms to provide opportunities for individuals who use day services provided by different state bodies such as the health service.

    The real innovation comes from using existing infrastructure (farms and farm families) to enhance a service in our society.

    The SOFAB farm families benefit from self-esteem and status generated through diversification and the strengthening of their role in their community. The extra income makes their core farming activity more sustainable and generates productivity and investment on this side of the business also.

    Most importantly, the individuals benefit from potential personal activation that can lead to employment. This brings huge benefits on a personal level in terms of self-esteem and self-worth.

  • Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine brought 8,000 people onto the farm at Ballymaloe House and Cookery School just last week. The innovative event brings national and international authors, chefs, foragers, educators, wine experts, gardeners, publishers, TV presenters, bloggers and journalists together to enjoy and talk about Irish food. It is the only festival of its kind in Ireland and has created an important hub for food enthusiasts worldwide to meet and share ideas on a farm and to spread the word across the world afterwards.

  • The Peace Link is a state-of-the art sporting and recreational facility located in Clones on the Fermanagh, Monaghan border. It was opened in in October 2014 after huge efforts from people both sides of the border. Its ‘Building Positive Relations through Sport’ programme will deliver focused events and activities for the people of the Erne East region. It all started back in 1998 when the Clones Erne East voluntary community was established.

  • The Middletown Parish Community Hall started to be built just this week. This initiative by St. John’s Parish Church, Middletown identified a lack of suitable venues for use by all sections of the community in Middletown, the surrounding hinterland and on both sides of the Northern Ireland border. By enabling people to access services and facilities without fear and developing relationships, the initiative projects a more positive local image of life in rural areas of South Armagh.

    • On-farm innovation finalists

  • Herdwatch is a mobile, easy to use app that enables dairy and beef farmers to save hours each week on paperwork and gives them the peace of mind of being compliant with animal welfare and traceability regulations, all through their smartphone. Herdwatch was co-founded by FRS Network and Fabien Peyaud, and launched in February 2014 following two years of research and development. It costs €99/year and 1,000 farmers are using it to make their life easier.

  • Farmflo is a farmer-friendly system designed to improve the speed and accuracy of keeping farm records as you work for compliance reporting and traceability. The Farmflo platform is configured to work as a central hub for information, which can draw from the Department of Agriculture's animal or approved chemicals databases. It also connects with the popular accountancy software Xero. It costs €20/month and 750 farmers are currently using it.

  • John Davoren has developed Caherconnell Fort and added sheepdog demonstrations to turn it into one of the most popular tourism destinations in North Clare. A visitor centre with accompanying craft and coffee shops was developed to offer all the modern comfort while walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. The fort was also the catalyst for the development of an International Archaeological and Geological Field School. It is accredited by the National University of Ireland Galway and students come from around the world each year to take its courses in this unique area.

    • Rural Farm Business category finalists

  • Farmageddon Brewery Co-op was started in Comber, Northern Ireland by seven friends who shared an interest in home brewing. The entire brewing system was financed and built by the members of the co-operative. This reduced the overall cost significantly by using recycled dairy equipment. Farmageddon have built a cult following around their monthly special brews

  • James Cunningham has developed Connemara Food Ventures in Innagh valley, Galway with his wife Deidre, a nutritionist, to bring a range of functional foods to the market. Their first product is called SMRT bar and they have focused on incorporating an organic seaweed blend into this natural five-ingredient health snack. Their next product is a Nori seaweed-based bread improver that extends the shelf life of bread and wheat-based products and adds nutrients. They are also putting seaweeds into confectionery products for the first time.

  • Champion logmaster is a timber processor developed by Ben Colchester from Urlingford. Its innovative design costs about half the price of imported models, is more robust, simpler and has unique design features that enable it to contend with the types of timber that are economically available for firewood production. It cuts the cost of processing logs from €60/m3 to just €5/m3. To bring the log master to market, Ben has partnered up with Robbie Campion who has a fabricating business.