Limerick farmer elected new chair of Agri Aware

LIMERICK beef and tillage farmer Shay Galvin has been elected as the new chairman of Agri Aware.

The Croom man was announced as the new chairman at the AGM of the independent farming and agri-food educational body at the Irish Farm Centre in Bluebell, Co Dublin following a ballot at the board meeting.

The former Limerick IFA chairperson is replacing Cork dairy farmer Alan Jagoe as chairman. 

Marcus O’Halloran, executive director of Agri Aware, congratulated Mr Galvin on his appointment.

Mr O’Halloran said: "Firstly, I wish to thank outgoing chairman, Alan Jagoe for his dedication, commitment, drive and leadership to Agri Aware over his four-year tenure. 

"Alan has been instrumental in the success of the organisation during his time as Chairman and as a result has significantly improved the understanding of farming and the agri-food industry amongst the public."

Over Mr Jagoe's time as chairman, many successful programmes have launched and grown exponentially across both primary and secondary schools with student participation across programmes also increasing substantially from 30,000 in his first year to 131,000 now.

"Looking forward, I am relishing the opportunity to work with Shay as the new chairman of Agri Aware in continuing to communicate the important role of Irish farmers, and the agri-food industry, in delivering quality, safe, and sustainably produced, traceable food that is affordable for consumers, whilst caring for our environment. 

"Lastly, I’d like to wish Shay well in his new role," Mr O’Halloran said.

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Mr Galvin said his aim as chairman of Agri Aware is to continue and build on the work of communicating the vital links between agriculture, food and our economy to urban and suburban societies. 

“Increasing awareness of the relationship between our standard of excellence in farming, and the payoff in terms of excellence in the food we produce to eat and export is a key goal, while maintaining the unique green image we have here in Ireland.

“I understand the importance of educating the general public from a young age in the role farming plays in all our daily lives. I plan to assist and build on this with the input of a strong board, along with the expertise of our Executive Director Marcus O’Halloran and the team.

“As a whole together, I expect Agri Aware to grow in its capacity to deliver on its core values," said Mr Galvin.