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Kerry dairy farmer, William Dennehy, is the 2026 winner of the Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards.
William’s farm demonstrates how productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability can work together. His spring-calving herd produced 497 kilogrammes of milk solids per cow in 2025 from a predominantly grazed-grass diet, with strong breeding performance and an EBI of €156. High commercial beef value (CBV) calves are produced for beef farmers, supporting earlier finishing. Over 55 per cent of the milking platform is carrying clover, and 98 per cent of nitrogen is applied as protected urea. Strong soil fertility, regular soil testing, and lime use underpin grass production. Located along the Brown Flesk River, William has worked with the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) to identify water-quality risks and introduced riparian buffers, hedgerows and a reedbed. He actively uses decision-support tools including PastureBase, AgNav, and ICBF, while participating in sustainability programmes. His commitment extends beyond farming through social farming, and involvement in his local community.
The awards, sponsored by FBD, were presented to five category winners across: dairy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing biodiversity, improving soil health, improving water quality and farming with innovation, and to five special recognition awards for preservation and utilisation of heritage grains, establishing agroforestry, management and improvement of breeding, managing hedgerows for ecosystem service delivery and protecting waterways with targeted riparian margins.
Speaking at the awards, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, Alex White, who presented the top award to William said: “I would like to congratulate the overall winner William Dennehy and the other nine finalists on their achievement. I extend my congratulations to the category and special recognition award winners who each committed to developing a sustainable future for the agri-sector. Their motivation and enthusiasm was evident from the video profiles. These farmers are leading the way in environmental sustainability. We all have a role to play in sharing the stories of these winning farmers and hopefully be an inspiration to other farmers to follow.”
The other award winners in the Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards were:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions – Aileen Sheehan and Philip O’Leary.
- Enhancing biodiversity – Peter and Thomas O’Hanrahan.
- Improving water quality – William Dennehy.
- Improving soil health – Matt Hennessey.
- Farming with innovation – Alan McCann.