Last week at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois, Certified Irish Angus marked a decade of its popular school’s competition with a Calf presentation event. The ceremony revealed the five secondary schools that have been selected as finalists in this year’s Certified Irish Angus schools’ competition. From Wexford, Hollie-Mae Power Sinnott and Grace Warren from FJC Secondary School, Bunclody, were among the students who met the Irish Angus-Cross calves they will rear for the first time at the event.
Schools Competition
The Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition, supported by processors ABP and Kepak was first introduced to secondary school students in Ireland in 2014. The unique initiative is designed to teach students about the care and attention required to produce top quality beef, and it has engaged with more than 3,600 students in the last ten years. The five schools announced to take part in the next instalment of the Certified Irish Angus Schools’ Competition include:
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FJC Secondary School, Bunclody, Co. Wexford. Students Hollie-Mae Power Sinnott and Grace Warren will research ways of “Positioning Ireland as a global leader in sustainable beef production”. The team will investigate farmers’ knowledge of sustainable farming methods and host information evenings with local Macra na Feirme, IFA and ICA groups.
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Coláiste Mhuire, Ballygar, Co. Galway. Students Celine Gacquin, Roisín McCauley and Kate Ann Gacquin will explore the topic “Increasing consumer perceptions of the value of beef”. They plan to research what consumers look for when buying beef and ways farmers can execute farming methods with consumers’ needs in mind.
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Newport College, Tipperary. Students Cillian Marren, Sam Caplis and Kyle Gow will research the topic “Sustainable Farm Technology”. The students will focus their research on technologies that farmers can implement on their farms. Helping farmers see the importance of farm planning and operating an environmentally-friendly beef farm will also be a focus.
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Sacred Heart Secondary School, Clonakilty, Co. Cork. Students Lucy Kirby, Ciara O’Driscoll, Niamh O’Sullivan and Ellen O’Neill will focus on “Increasing awareness of the Certified Irish Angus brand” as their research project. They will highlight how the Angus breed helps to increase the reproductive efficiency of a farm. They will create an educational tool to inform consumers featuring their mascot, “Éire the Angus”.
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St. Brendan’s Community School, Birr, Co. Offaly. Students Jack O’Meara, Moya Guinan, Joesph McLoughney and Ben Younge will explore “How small adjustments lead to enhancements in sustainable beef farming”, which will investigate how the platform AgNav can create an optimum plan that ensures more sustainable beef farming. This plan will be supported by research findings on cattle health and the beef production process.
About the competition
The Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition, run by Certified Irish Angus and its processor partners, ABP and Kepak, aims to encourage second-level students to understand the considerable care and attention required to produce and market the highest-quality beef for consumers. In addition to rearing the calves, the students will complete research projects focusing on different aspects of farming, the food chain, and sustainability.
Each finalist will receive the financial benefit of selling the animals to the processors upon the project’s completion. The winning students also receive an additional grant of €2,000 for their further education.
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