ASA Conference

Agricultural Science Association’s (ASA) annual conference (Killashee Hotel in Kildare, September 7). The theme of this year’s conference is the the 'science of sustainable food systems', focusing on the major challenges facing the agricultural industry including environmental, economic and geopolitical issues. As usual, there is a stellar line-up of speakers including Tara McCarthy, global vice president of ESG, Alltech; Jim Bergin, CEO of Tirlán; Dr Stan Lalor, director of Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc; Bill Callanan, chief inspector at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and William Minchin, CEO, Irish Farmers Journal. ASA president, Tommy Boland who has had an impressive year, hands over the baton to vice-president, Niamh Bambrick.
This is one of the biggest events in the agri-calendar and traditionally draws in excess of 500 attendees to the conference and 800 to the annual banquet. Founded in 1942, the organisation has a membership of 1,600 members.