Eight schools submitted over 150 exceptional entries from pupils of varying ages from junior infants all the way up to 6th class.
While the posters were very different there were common themes throughout that might possibly point to what the farm of the future will look like, how it will operate and who will be running it! There were plenty of entries featuring futuristic machinery as well as animals in space suits and farming on the moon. They included hovercraft tractors and drones being used to spray fields or deliver water to crops – things that are not necessarily science fiction but (in some cases) are actually quite close to being science fact. Renewable energy emerged as a recurring theme with wind turbines featuring in many of the posters, as well as irrigation systems. Conveyor belts and streamlined processes to produce high yielding produce were also prevalent which would seem to show an awareness of the global food production deficit that will come with an increasing world population. Some less common themes included vertical farming, biogas production and methane measuring equipment such as the GreenFeed technology used in Moorepark, again showing an awareness of how our planet is changing and what agriculture needs to do to become more environmentally sustainable.
Elena Hayes, Education and Public Engagement manager at VistaMilk, said that the competition was successful in two ways – engaging school children with the idea of Irish dairy and Irish agriculture as a whole having a long-term future, and also clearly demonstrating that they have a grasp of the issues involved in that future.
“It is clear students have a great awareness of sustainable practices in agriculture, the importance of breaking traditional stereotypes, and the impact that modern technology will have on the future of agriculture – and that is genuinely great to see. It was interesting to note that most of the posters depicted the farm with sunshine as opposed to rain and there was an overall positive outlook in the majority of the posters. This, of course, demonstrates the irrepressible optimism of the Irish in the face of the certain knowledge that there will be at least four seasons in any given day!”