Voting has now opened for this year's Farming for Nature (FFN) awards.

Some 23 farmers are nominated for the awards.

These farmers were nominated by fellow farmers and environmental specialists across Ireland and were interviewed and shortlisted by the FFN team and approved for selection by a panel of judges.

The FFN team is sharing short films of seven of the chosen ambassadors and the 16 others will be announced on a monthly basis from November onwards.

The team is inviting the public to select which video they find most interesting and inspiring.

To vote for your favourite ambassador, just click here – with only one vote per email address.

The voting closes on Friday 22 October at midnight and the winner of this public vote will be announced on Saturday 23 October at the annual Burren Winterage School.

In excess of 200 accredited professionals in the area of ‘farmland biodiversity’ across Ireland were invited to nominate a farmer who they thought was worthy of recognition for their work in supporting nature on their farm and in their community.

Nominations were sought from relevant individuals, including some of those working within the following organisations: the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Heritage Council, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Teagasc, the Irish Organic Association, the National Rural Network and others.