Taking time out from the farm and everyday life, 500 women headed to the west to attend the 16th Women & Agriculture conference for a day of connection and celebration.
“Today is your day to enjoy and to learn how to mind yourself. Our theme today is ‘minding you’ and as women we don’t do that very well, so it’s important to do that today,” said chair of the conference Katherine O’Leary as she welcomed attendees from across Ireland.
The event, supported by FBD Insurance, had a wide variety of speakers and panels focused on sending attendees home with bite-sized pieces of knowledge and a resounding feel-good factor.
The morning started off with a Tech Talk panel with the Irish Farmers Journal team discussing the current market prices and food inflation in supermarkets and the importance of fair pricing for farmers.
Weather and climate
Meteorologists Evelyn Cusack and Séamus Walsh took to the stage to discuss the vagaries of Ireland’s weather and climate and their new book which launched on the day called, They Say It Might Rain.
“I am a very happy girl now I am retired two years. Séamus and myself started as young forecasters in Met Éireann in 1982. We worked in the forecast office. We decided to write a book on the weather to distil the little bits of knowledge we had,” said Evelyn.
Although it was their first time to be interviewed by Adam Woods, deputy editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, many would assume the three were old friends with lots of laughter as they discussed farmers and their “obsession” with the weather.
Before lunch chef Neven Maguire had a cookery demo supported by Simply Better at Dunnes Stores which turned into a full DJ set.
“If your head is spinning, so is mine. It was absolutely fantastic seeing so many women up dancing and having great fun.
“I played six records and kept it light-hearted and they loved it. I could have played for the full afternoon,” Neven commented.
For his recipes, he made a sharing dish of fillet steak with peppercorn sauce, to celebrate ‘the best beef in the world’ – followed by a no- bake chocolate tart for dessert.
“These ladies are incredible; the farming community is incredible,” Neven added.
As this year’s conference took place the day before the presidential election all candidates were invited to the attend and speak to the audience about what they will do for rural Ireland.
Heather Humphreys accepted the invitation.“My mother said to me, there’s no job you can’t do. I always believed that and brought that with me the rest of my life,” she said.
When she spoke about the challenges facing rural Ireland, Heather said, “We have been making good in-roads into rural Ireland, [with] a lot of investment.”
On both the succession and mental health panels, two strong women shared their own stories to help raise awareness about challenges facing farm families.
Mona O’Donoghue Concannon shared her experience of trying to mind herself amid her husband’s struggle with his mental health. She emphasised the importance of never prioritising land over family relationships.
Ursula Kelly, managing director at Cormac Tagging spoke about how she and her father ‘locked horns’ over what would happen to the family business. She gave an honest account of the challenges faced along the way saying that now she has: “the best job in the world.” Read more on page 21 of the
- Irish Farmers Journal
The conference closed with keynote speaker Mary Martin, wife of An Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
In conversation with Ciara Leahy, she spoke openly about her own career in politics. And she recounted some stand-out moments including accompanying her husband to the White House – and her own private tour.
In pictures
Listen to our special Women & Agriculture conference podcast here: shows.acast.com/farmers-journal/episodes/highlights-from-women-agriculture-2025.