Farmers are well represented among the 57 escorts who will chaperone the Roses at this year’s Rose of Tralee Festival, I see.

Wexford man Aidan McCabe describes himself as an R&D engineer and a farmer. He likes relaxing at home with the family.

Andrew Corrigan from Carlow is a dairy farmer, likes hockey and is active in Macra.

Colm Parke from Sligo is a dairy farmer and a qualified veterinary nurse. He is sporty and likes going to race meetings.

Socialising and having the craic is a must too

Daniel O’Connell from Co Kerry is a regional manager in asset management (forestry). His hobbies include restoring vintage machinery.

Donal O’Callaghan is a dairy farmer and is also involved in Macra – and scaled farm machinery models.

Kieran Dunphy is a dairy and beef farmer from Co Waterford. While his passion is farming, “socialising and having the craic is a must too”. Nicolas Corcoran is a farmer from Tipperary. He has travelled a lot and is thinking of another visit to Australia.

Patrick Cashman is a grass and forage development manager, from a dairy farm in Co Cork. He is sporty, loves travel – and recently learned to jive.

Snowboarding

Paul Clabby from Roscommon is a rural development officer and a farmer. He plays football but his first love is DJ-ing.

Paul Kelly is an account manager at Dairymaster in south Kilkenny. He loves to play hurling and football – and in winter likes skiing and snowboarding.

Shane Foran, from Co Waterford, is a dairy farmer and Glanbia sales assistant. His ambitions include expanding the home farm – and maybe finding himself a Rose at the festival.

Tim O’Shea is a farmer and a Bord Bia auditor. From Cork, he likes sport and music and is involved in Macra.

Tom O’Keeffe is a masters student in economics at Trinity, but is now returning to work on the family pig farm in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, for a while before going travelling.