The announcement was made at the International Family Farming Conference, jointly organised by IFA and Teagasc, which took place at the Shelbourne Hotel on Monday.

The Whyte family was presented with their award by President Michael D Higgins, who was also the keynote speaker at the conference. The President also met with the Dunphy family who were the Connacht winners, the Hamilton family who won in Ulster, and the Murphy family who were the Munster winners.

In all, entries were received from 28 counties. A total of 23 farms received farm visits from the judging panel which consisted of John Keating from Teagasc, Tim O’Connell, FBD, and Katherine O’Leary, Irish Farmers Journal.

The Whyte farming family story began when Peter and Bridgid Whyte bought 22 acres of land in 1953. All their seven sons went into farming and they in turn have seven sons who are also farming. Between them, the two generations farm 3,000 acres, 1,000 of which are owned and the rest is operated through share-farming, leases and conacre. They produce wheat, barley, oats, oil seed rape and potatoes.

“Everything we do is together, although it will get interesting when the next generation comes along,” said Peader. The Whytes operate as a company. The farms are owned separately, but the equipment, yard and profits are shared between all the families. All are paid a set wage. Each farmer has autonomy about the crops he grows, but any decisions on capital expenditure and machinery are made jointly. The family was commended for being amazing communicators of their story. They are an example of what can be achieved when the will to farm takes precedence.

The awards were sponsored by FBD, in association with the Farmers Journal, Teagasc and the IFA.