This month, 15 Carbery farmers graduated from UCC with a Diploma in Environmental Science and Social Policy.  But this is no ordinary diploma. The 15 farmers are part of a group of 38 in total, since the launch of an innovative, first-of-its-kind partnership with UCC, to have achieved this diploma through what is called the Retrospective Prior Learning Mechanism. 

The partnership with UCC came about in 2017 when a pilot project with a group of farmers from the Carbery Greener Dairy Farms programme was launched. The goal was to ensure the practical learnings that farmers have taken from Carbery’s Greener Dairy programme were being academically recognised by University College Cork (UCC) in what’s known as Recognition of Prior Learning, or RPL. 

Under this process, UCC recognises the competencies, experience and skills learned by farmers who participated in the Greener Dairy project. The farmers are awarded over 60% of the credits needed for UCC’s level 7 diploma in environmental science and social policy. Farmers are then given the option by UCC to achieve the remaining credits needed for the diploma in a more formal learning environment. 

“To date, 38 of our farmer suppliers have now completed that course and been awarded diplomas by UCC. Some of them may not have had the chance to do their Leaving Cert and here they are with a diploma in environmental science and social policy. It really gives those farmers huge confidence in themselves for what they have achieved,” says Enda Buckley, Director of Sustainability at Carbery. And for us, it shows that our farmers are well ahead of the curve in terms of being interested in, and educated about, what it is to farm sustainably.”

Belinda Gascoigne, who manages the programme for UCC, explains “Through the RPL process, UCC has been able to highlight and validate the tremendous work that the farmers have completed in making their farms both more sustainable and profitable.  Key achievements in their farming careers are now certified in an NFQ Level 7 programme.”

All graduates are also participants in Carbery’s Greener Dairy Farming programme, launched in 2012.  Carbery Greener Dairy Farms™ (CGDF) is an innovative, dairy efficiency programme designed to measure, monitor and optimise resource allocation and best practice on farm. The primary objective was to introduce efficiencies and improve environmental sustainability on Carbery milk supplier’s farms. Initially, twelve dairy farms took part in the programme. Over the years, this has risen to 70. 

Through the programme – Ireland’s first model for delivering best practice in sustainable dairy farming – Carbery farmers have been able to measure carbon, water and energy footprints at an individual farm level, as well as support on soil and nutrient management and water quality. Funded and organised by Carbery, by educating farmers on the importance of sustainable dairy production, they have been supported to reduce their energy use and carbon emissions as well as increasing awareness of the importance of managing water use. 

The programme was a precursor to many of the principles now in the Teagasc MACC curve (to reduce farm emissions) and also the genesis for some of the approaches being trialled as part of Carbery’s Farm Zero C project. Participants in the programme have seen a 15% reduction in the carbon footprint of those farms. CGDF has also shown that for every one litre of milk produced on those farms it takes just 6.5 litres of water to produce it. In other countries, the figure for water footprint would be multiples of 6.5. 

Carbery are now taking applications for participants for next year’s programme. Any of their suppliers who are interested are encouraged to get in touch with any member of the Carbery sustainability team. 

All graduates of the UCC Diploma from Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird Co-ops are listed below. 

Year 1 

• John Joe O’Sullivan
• Sean Deasy
• Darragh Kennedy
• Cormac O’Keefe
• Cyril Draper
• Gerard Lehane
• John J McNamara
• Glenn Forde
• John Hurley
• Thomas Griffin
• Padraig Hayes
• Norman Tuthill

• Donal O’Connor 
• James Fitzpatrick 
• Sam Kingston
• Aidan McCarthy

Year 2

• Laurence Sexton
• Denis O’Donovan
• Tim Sexton
• James Hurley 
• Andrew Whelton
• Marguerite Crowley
• Martin Coleman

Year 3

• Carmel Keohane
• Owen O’Brien 
• Jessica Hawkes
• Vanessa O’ Connor
• John Ian Kingston
• Caroline Walsh 
• Jer O’Brien
• Eamonn Ryan 
• Peter Fleming
• Brendan Brady
• Diarmuid Manning 
• Tadhg O’Mahony
• Michael Nyhan 
• Micheal O’Mahony
• Dermot O’Leary 

For more information on Carbery Group, visit our homepage.

About Carbery Group

Carbery Group is an international dairy, flavours and nutritional ingredients company headquartered in Ballineen, Co. Cork, Ireland. It is owned by four Irish co-operatives, Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, and employs almost 900 people, with 1215 local farmer suppliers. Carbery operates from 10 locations including Ireland, the UK, the USA, Brazil, Italy, Indonesia and Thailand and supplies more than 50 countries worldwide. 

For more information contact: 

Carbery

Louise Kelly

Communications Manager

T 083 888 5995

E [email protected]

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