Tony O’Reilly from Monksgrange, Co Tipperary, passed away on 11 July. He was very much a pioneer and an innovator in the tillage sector in his time and was extremely helpful to very many people.

He hosted groups from inside and outside the country on his farm and many got to know him through those visits.

He was born into a farming and contracting business beside Ballypatrick outside Clonmel. He left school at an early age to work with his father in the business. In 1968, he purchased a farm in Monksgrange and gradually expanded his land base to specialise in cereal and sugar beet production.

Having seen first-hand the development of intensive production systems on the continent, Tony quickly used these technologies in his farming business. He was dedicated to performance and perfection and was one of the leading tillage farmers of his era.

He was prepared to travel to anywhere knowledge was available and was then willing to share this with others.

The standard of workmanship on the farm was always excellent and he would attribute this to those who worked with him.

Tony was a founder member of the Kilcoran cereals discussion group in the late 1970s. He was also a founding member of Clon-Ag trading in the early 1980s to provide grain storage facilities for growers. In the mid-1990s, he bought a farm in Poland and, the following year, built a piggery on his farm in Tipperary to add value to grain.

Tony was an icon for professionalism in tillage and he will be sadly missed by all his family and his many friends and acquaintances.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.