NEWBIE case studies feature in Irish Country Living, Women in Agriculture Awards 2020

NEWBIE case studies feature in Irish Country Living, Women in Agriculture Awards 2020

Newbie case studies, Catherine O Grady Powers of Glen Keen Farm was the winner of the “Innovation on Farm Award” while Teresa Roche of Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese was a finalist in the “Innovation In Agriculture and Food” category, of the Irish Country Living, Women in Agriculture Awards 2020.

Catherine and husband Jim run the hugely successful Glen Keen farm and visitor centre close to Louisburgh in Co Mayo. Starting out as a mountain sheep farm, the visitor centre grew as a complementary enterprise with attractions and packages developed around the sheep-farming year.

A host of packages are offered to visitors such as sheep shearing, sheep dog demonstrations, hill walks and historical tours. Glen Keen has become very popular with tour operators attracting large numbers of overseas visitors. Catherine has featured as a NEWBIE case study and the video developed on the farm can be found at the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1qjqbv3jQ. The Glen Keen story demonstrates how challenges such as access to information and access to capital can be overcome when starting an on-farm business and how diversification can help some farmers to remain on the land fulltime.

Teresa Roche of Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese developed a farmhouse cheese business on the families’ dairy farm adding value to the milk produced from the 97 cow herd. Teresa has developed a unique Swiss style Irish produced cheese overcoming barriers such as access to capital and access to information and training.  Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese has featured as a NEWBIE case study see more of her story here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNemvDkmzcg

Congratulations to Catherine and Teresa on their well-deserved recognition of two very inspiring stories.