Wheat field. Image: Shutterstock
Agritech start-up Eurotec Designs was named overall innovation winner at the National Ploughing Championships, landing significant capital in the process.
Seeing off almost 200 rivals, Eurotec Designs took both the start-up and overall award to take home €15,000 of the total €70,000 prize fund.
The National Ploughing Championships claims a record 195 applications were received to exhibit for the awards, with just under 70 chosen to attend the event.
Anna May McHugh, MD of the National Ploughing Association (NPA), said: “The NPA has watched the innovation arena go from strength to strength over the last six years and we are delighted with its success.
“This is an excellent initiative that firmly focuses on agriculture in the future and is an exciting showcase for all the visitors to the National Ploughing Championships,” she said.
Of the 68 businesses exhibiting, 12 were established companies and 48 were start-ups. The remaining eight were research projects.
Entries were sought from outside of Ireland this year for the first time, with companies from the UK and New Zealand participating at the event.
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, said 250,000 people are employed in the agricultural sector in Ireland, distributed throughout the country.
Calling it the “heartbeat” of rural Ireland, Mitchell O’Connor noted how forward-looking the sector has become, evidenced by the companies on display at the event.
The winners were:
Agri-engineering start-up
- Gold Medal (and overall winner) – Eurotec Designs
- Silver Medal – EcoVolve
Agri-engineering established company
- Gold Medal – Major Equipment
- Silver Medal – Rota Spiral
Sustainable agriculture start-up
- Gold Medal – MicroGen Biotech
- Gold Medal – MagGrow
- Silver Medal – Eirechrom
Sustainable agriculture established company
- Gold Medal – NutrioBio
Agritech start-up
- Gold Medal – Firmwave
- Silver Medal – Farmflo
Agritech established company
- Gold Medal – Forcefield Active
- Silver Medal – Herdwatch Ring Side
Research emerging from 3rd level
- Gold Medal – Tyndall National Institute
Innovation arena machine of the year
- Eurotec Designs
Design partners award
- Eirechrom
Safety award
- Gold Medal – OCE
- Silver Medal – Joseph Hyland
Young innovator
- Patrick Lane
International gold medal
- Cross Agri Engineering
Alfred Cox Founder’s Cup Perpetual Trophy, recognising his contribution to the agri-engineering industry
- Eurotec Designs
Anna May McHugh Female Leadership in Agriculture Perpetual Trophy
- Clodagh Cavanagh, Abbey Machinery
