The Farming Roadshow was an event I attended last Thursday night in the Radisson Hotel in Sligo. The event, which was conceived from an idea by local pedigree Charolais breeder Niall Canning, combined trade stands and guest speakers featuring local suckler, dairy and sheep farmers along with industry representatives from Teagasc and Bord Bia among others.
There were also presentations from some of the sponsors of the night, including Bank of Ireland, Aurivo, Sligo LEADER Partnership and the key note speaker on the night was Justin McCarthy, editor of the Irish Farmers Journal.
The event was essentially a fundraiser for the North West Hospice with funds raised on the night through a raffle and an auction of items that included pedigree embryos, AI straws, feed and fertiliser vouchers, pedigree registrations, along with signed jerseys and concert tickets.
Media
While the event was promoted through local press and broadcast media, the power of social media was shown as powerful tool. What was clear from the attendance of over 1,000 people, is that there is a huge appetite amount young people for information and discussion about agriculture and all the various products and services associated with it.
I suspect that many of the attendees were local IT Sligo students and by the end of the night, many had purchased some highly sought after AI straws from famous bulls such as CF52 (Doonally New) or IS4 (Seepa Tee Jay). Perhaps they were purchasing a Mother's Day present, or perhaps it’s the start of their own farming enterprise.
Joe Burke from Bord Bia spoke about the potential of live exports this year, to countries including Turkey, Algeria and Egypt. Some positive news on the farming front. Of course, no presentation about exports is complete without the mention of Brexit these days.
Rural economy
In his keynote address for the evening, Justin McCarthy spoke about the importance of agriculture to the economy. Agriculture generates over €80m of economic activity in Sligo and supports 4,500 jobs at farm level.
This is why rural services need to be not only maintained but expanded. Keeping future generations in rural Ireland depends on jobs and services. There needs to be some thinking outside the box, to develop ideas on how to expand services at post office and bank branches. Perhaps in 2018, facilities will be provided to assist farmers in filing their Basic Payment application online at the local post office.
The event for me promoted all that is good about rural Ireland. Meitheal, the old Irish word, for where rural communities came together to help each other out. With some hard work by the organisers a hugely success event raised vital funds for the North West Hospice.
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