County Londonderry chairman - Outstanding in his field
It has been another busy summer for the North East Derry group.
The annual cereal competition saw members demonstrate the quality of their crops across the four respective categories, with entries once again proving to be of an exceptionally high standard. Competition was fierce, with very little separating the top scores. The results at group level were as follows:
Winter barley - 1st Ronnie McIlroy, 2nd David Aiken, 3rd Adrian Shiels
Winter wheat - 1st Mark McCollum, 2nd James Gardiner, 3rd David & Ivan Curry
Spring barley - 1st Mark McCollum, 2nd David & Ivan Curry, 3rd Adrian Shiels
Oats - 1st David and Ivan Curry
Special congratulations to member and County Londonderry chairman, Mark McCollum, who was awarded first place overall in Northern Ireland with his field of winter wheat. A huge thanks must go to Morris Peden for taking the time to be our judge at group level and to all those involved at county and NI levels who help run the competition, including the sponsors.
Friday 3 July saw county chairman Mark McCollum host a county Londonderry event in the form of a hog roast and farm tour on his home farm. A great night was had by all. Thanks must go to Corndale Farm for keeping us well fed and Jordan Connor for the live entertainment.
Our winter programme kicked off on Thursday 15 October at 8pm in the Gadda Centre, Garvagh. Guest speaker for the evening was Professor Jaimie T.A Dick from Queen’s University Belfast who encouraged members to ‘Rethink TB’. Our next winter programme meeting will also be in the Gadda Centre, Garvagh on Thursday 19 November at 8pm where we will be joined by guest speaker Andrew Wright to discuss ‘From the Farm to Your Phone’ and how technology is impacting modern day farming. We would encourage any county Londonderry Young Farmers to come along; you will be very welcome.