Farmageddon comes to UCD

Over the weekend the highly anticipated Aer Lingus College Football Classic (opens in a new window)#Farmageddon - This event saw over 24,000 fans travel to Ireland for the game and in what was a truly great experience for all attending, the game is expected to bring €130 million to the economy. 

The UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science was delighted to be part of the weeks celebrations and to start welcomed the Governor of South Dakota, Larry Rhoden and First Lady Sandy Rhoden to UCD Lyons Farm.

Governor Rhoden also took time to meet with the US embassy in Ireland, Glanbia and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris in Government Buildings.

Speaking after the meetings, the Tánaiste said: “I was delighted to meet this morning with the Governor of South Dakota, Larry Rhoden.
“Ireland’s relationship with the United States is multi-layered and multi-faceted, from the political, to the economic, to the cultural, and while the focus can often be on the country to country relationship, we also attach great importance to our relationships with individual states.

“Since taking up the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, protecting and developing Ireland’s relationship with the US and its constituent states has been one of my top priorities.
“Indicative of our commitment to the relationship, Ireland now has nine diplomatic missions across the US, along with a very strong State agency presence. Engaging with counterparts at state level allows us to reinforce existing ties with states like Kansas and South Dakota, and to explore how we can strengthen them.

“This forms part of the Government’s efforts to protect and to develop our mutually beneficial economic relationships with states such as Kansas and South Dakota, as well as with the United States as a whole.”

On Thursday, game sponsors, Enterprise Ireland hosted the first One Health x AgTech Summit in Kildare and Dublin. This was an extensive programme of events for Irish agtech and animal health companies to meet and share knowledge with visiting academics and potential industry partners from Iowa and Kansas. We also welcomed Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa. 

Despite being agricultural powerhouses, Iowa and Kansas have not traditionally been strong markets for Irish exporters, but the summit in UCD was the ideal opportunity to ignite change and showcase the Irish agricultural ecosystem.

Ireland is internationally recognised as one of the most efficient, profitable and trusted agricultural economies. We export advanced solutions to over 140 countries and generate over €1bn in global sales annually.

Both those US states offer significant untapped opportunity for Irish businesses in this sector.

​There were 19 Enterprise Ireland client companies from across the agtech and animal health sector at the summit. The US industry delegation included senior executives from leading agtech, food and animal health corporations and top-level representatives of major organisations.

Both the American universities sent senior leaders, professors and corporate engagement experts to Dublin to meet Irish companies and academics.

UCD collaborated with Enterprise Ireland for the summit and many of its senior managers and academics also attended. It announced a memorandum of agreement with both US universities while welcoming all delegations to a day-long visit to the UCD AgTech Innovation Centre last Thursday.

During the day, delegates toured the centre and heard from experts at panel discussions where topics ranged from transatlantic partnerships in agtech and the One Health approach; managing a global response to antimicrobial resistance; how technology enables sustainable agriculture; and more. The experienced live demonstrations from Irish agritech leaders including Dairymaster, JFC Group, and EASYFIX. 

Governor Kim Reynolds visiting Lyons Farm

On Friday, the delegations visited Nova Innovation Centre in UCD, where they heard more about industry partnerships, food innovation and entrepreneurship.

In a sign of the importance of the summit, attendees were addressed by Enterprise Minister Peter Burke, as well by the governors of Kansas and Iowa, Laura Kelly and Kim Reynolds. The governors highlighted how they were keen to see more foreign direct investment in their states.

We were delighted to see a number of our UCD students feature as part of a student spotlight in relation to student exchange.