‘I realised that the mantle had passed to the younger generation of farmers’

I had been enlisted to travel to Mallow to pick up four hens from Freeway Poultry last Wednesday morning, on behalf of my son Philip.

The hens were a birthday present for his wife Aileen. He had already built the hutch in their garden. Katie, their seven-month-old daughter, would learn to collect her own eggs. My eyes turned skyward but I did not speak.

On Tuesday, I was weeding in the garden when Philip rang to say that Aileen had made it into the final six of the FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards, run by Macra. This was the first I’d heard about it.

He rang again. Aileen’s interview went well. There was a dinner and results. They hadn’t really thought about arrangements for Katie. He hung up. So I made up my mind quickly. I rushed to the yard where Tim and Colm were repairing a hydraulic ram on the loader to announce my plan. I was given an immediate blessing and a bundle of good luck to impart to Aileen.

Young Farmer of the Year

Arriving at Killashee House Hotel around 8pm was better than nothing. Katie had just fallen asleep. I thought, “now Granny, you are definitely retired when you can’t go down to the proceedings below.”

I realised that the mantle had passed to the younger generation of farmers. It seemed forever until the dairy category winner was announced. And then flowery words that translated into “she has won.”

Happy tears flowed freely for my Aileen, who always wants to stay below the radar. “Well, good luck to that notion,” I mused. I wanted to whip Katie out of the cot and dash down to the function room.

Aileen is so passionate about the health and happiness of her animals, her staff and farm safety, protection of the environment, the education of farmers and the participation of women in farming

Then there was a tap on the door. It was my friend and colleague, Sarah McIntosh, from Irish Country Living . “I’ll watch Katie while you go down,” she said. “In fact, Jack Kennedy [editor of Irish Farmers Journal] was going to let you go down.” Isn’t that just the most wonderful example of humanity and understanding of family.

Arriving into the function room I was met by many people who had realised that Aileen was my daughter-in-law. There were so many leaders in the room, Liam Herlihy, chairman of Teagasc, greeted me warmly. He said how impressive she had been on stage.

Aileen is so passionate about the health and happiness of her animals, her staff and farm safety, protection of the environment, the education of farmers and the participation of women in farming.

She’s constantly alert to new ideas and rarely without a spreadsheet analysing, planning and quantifying what she is doing. I stand in awe of her energy.

I made my way to Aileen, who was beaming. “Who has the baby?” she asked before we had a warm hug.

Michael Berkery, chairman of FBD Trust, and recently conferred with an honorary doctorate from UCD for his contribution to the agri food sector was fulsome in his praise of Aileen. She was flanked by the new president of Macra na Feirne, Josephine O’Neill.

Leader of the pack

In this the 27th year of the competition, Aileen has been chosen as FBD Young Farmer of the Year by an auspicious judging panel headed up by Prof Karina Pierce. The goodwill towards Aileen from all agri quarters across FBD, Macra, IFA and farmers was genuine.

Tim and I have always been supporters of competitions. That was how we learned in Macra. Entering competitions is a way of benchmarking yourself and your business against the best. You can achieve a point of excellence that you might not otherwise do when you put yourself in the public eye.

I travelled home with Aileen as Philip had work commitments. The hens chirped away in the back alongside the sleeping baby while Aileen pulled in to do interviews.

She will be a great ambassador.