Co Londonderry farmer wins UFU spring barley competition

Second place this year was awarded to Sam Long from UFU North Down group and scooping up a respectable third place was Mark and Paul Russell from the UFU North Tyrone group.

The county winners were:

- Antrim: James McMillan, West Antrim group

- Armagh: Victor Hunniford, North East Armagh group

- Down: Sam Long, North Down group

- Londonderry: Johnny Hamilton, South Londonderry group

- Tyrone: Neville Millar, South Tyrone group

Speaking on behalf of the judges Robin Bolton, CAFRE senior crops development adviser said: “With the recently introduced new format of the competition the two levels of judging preceding the final has resulted in entries that are all of a high standard.

“This was again the case with entries in the spring barley competition. Given the late spring it is a credit to all the growers to have produced such good crops. To get to the top of this group required fields with high yield potential combined with excellent weed and disease control and the winning fields are a credit to all three winners. I would like to thank the UFU for organising this competition and for once again trusting me with the role of judging it.”

UFU deputy president, John McLenaghan, said: “I would like to extend my congratulations to all finalists and thank all those who entered this year’s spring barley competition. The UFU cereals competition recognises the talent of cereal growers in Northern Ireland, particularly after another testing year of weather events. Thank you to all those who volunteered their time from group, county and Northern Ireland final level to judge a large number of entries across the country.”

The awards for the winter barley, oats, winter wheat and spring barley cereal competition categories will be officially presented at the 2024 UFU and sponsors cereals competition awards and lunch planned for later this year.