Macra na Feirme’s Young Farmer Skillnet has announced details of its Young Beef Farmer Sustainability Programme in association with Dawn Meats. The programme is designed to help ambitious young farmers to develop their farming skills, their business and commercial awareness. Macra Young Farmer Skillnet and Dawn Meats are inviting young farmers to apply for a place on the programme, which runs for eight months.

Speaking at the programme launch, Macra na Feirme president James Healy said: ‘‘This initiative is an exciting opportunity for young beef farmers to help them improve the efficiency, sustainability and margins of their farms.

By participating in this Skillnet training, young beef farmers from across the country will gain a deeper understanding of the beef industry from farm to fork. We would encourage all young beef farmers to apply for this programme and we wish to thank our partners Dawn Meats for their support and assistance with this initiative.’’

Paul Nolan, Dawn Meats, said: ‘‘With a proud tradition for producing the most succulent grass-fed, quality-assured beef on our Irish family farms, Dawn Meats is delighted to work with Macra’s cohort of young beef farmers as they embrace the challenges in efficient and sustainable beef production into the future.’’

Healy said: ‘‘The Young Beef Farmer Sustainability Programme will instil our young beef farmers with the confidence to undertake on-farm projects that add value to their beef farming enterprise. It is a very exciting development for our Skillnet training offering.’’

Macra na Feirme is now accepting applications online at www.macra.ie/ybfsp. Places are limited so young farmers are encouraged to apply early before the closing date of Sunday, 3 September.

The successful participants will be introduced at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, in September.