Agri Aware were delighted to present Make-A-Wish Ireland charity partner for this year’s Open Farm Day with a donation of €5,065 to help grant wishes this year. The funds were raised across our four host farms hosted in Wicklow (Tom & Geraldine Short), Mayo (Padraic & Breege Joyce), Cork (John & Ann Coughlan) & Dublin (Padraic & Bríd McMahon). Thank you to all those who donated to find out more about Make-A-Wish visit: www.makeawish.ie

 Agri Aware today launched it's #FacesofFarmSafety competition. The competition aims to get as  many people as possible to share their farm safety advice and to celebrate their good practices in order to promote Farm Safety to millions of social media users across Ireland. 

The aims of this competition are aligned with the themes of this year's National Farm Safety Week 2018 which kicked off today (Monday 16th July). Agri Aware is asking members of the general public to celebrate when things go right and share their good practices with others.

People can do this by submitting their ten-second video clip, or alternatively a photo and accompanying message to Agri Aware's social media channels throughout Farm Safety Week using the hashtag "#FacesofFarmSafety".  Many famous faces have lended their time to the campaign and these messages will be released throughout the week across Agri Aware's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 
One lucky winner will win two tickets to the All Ireland hurling final in Croke Park. 
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The competition will close this Sunday 22nd July with a winner being announced on Monday 23rd of July. 

Agri Aware the agri-food educational body has a number of resources focusing on farm safety including the “Once Upon a Farm” farm safety awareness video. For more information visit www.agriaware.ie

Four leading farms to open gates to the public on Bank Holiday Monday, 7th May

​Agri Aware, the Irish agri-food educational body, has today announced details of its inaugural ‘National Open Farm Day’ which will take place on Bank Holiday Monday, 7th May 2018. This will be the first time in Ireland that farms from across the country will simultaneously open their gates to the public on one day to help educate consumers about what happens on a working farm and to encourage families to learn more about where our food comes from.

The countrywide event will involve farm walks, educational talks, cookery demonstrations, family activities and much more. The first year of the event will feature four mixed enterprise host farms in Cork, Mayo, Wicklow and Dublin.

​Speaking at the announcement, Agri Aware Chairman, Richard Moeran said, “This national event aims to connect consumers directly with the primary producers of our food in a transparent and highly engaging way. We hope to open the lines of communication between farmers and the consumers of their products and develop a greater understanding about how the food we eat everyday gets to our tables. The nationwide events will also allow people to experience what day to day life on a working farm involves and the measures farmers undertake to produce safe, quality food in a sustainable way.”
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Agri Aware’s National Open Farm Day 2018 host farmers are:

• John and Ann Coughlan - Dairy and Beef Farm in Ballyellis, Buttevant, Co. Cork
• Padraic and Breege Joyce - Dairy Farm in Islandeady, Castlebar, Co Mayo
• Tom and Geraldine Short - Sheep & Tillage Farm at Kilmullen House, Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow
• Padraic and Bríd McMahon - Beef, Sheep, Turkey & Tillage Farm in Fieldstown West, Kilsallagh, Co Dublin

​On the day, each of the farms will open their gates to the public from 11am – 4pm and each location will offer its own unique programme of activities, full details of which will be announced closer to the time.

​All of the host farms are full members of Bord Bia’s Quality Assurance scheme and its Origin Green programme which ensure that they are farmers that adhere to the highest standards of quality, safety and traceability with exemplary sustainability measures in place.