Recovery Haven has won both the Community Focused Innovations Category and the Overall Dairymaster Rural Innovation Award, at a ceremony that took place on May 26 at the Ballygarryhouse Hotel in Tralee, Co Kerry. The competition, sponsored by dairy equipment manufacturing company Dairymaster, was open to innovators from every county in Ireland and finalists from the four provinces were in attendance. Recovery Haven, a community-based initiative that relies entirely on volunteers, enriches the lives of those going through their cancer journey by providing emotional and psychological support while also supporting their family and friends. Eileen Comerford, of Recovery Haven, said: “It is a huge honour for the 97 trained volunteers to be the Overall Winner in the Dairymaster Rural Innovation Awards. We gain satisfaction from those needing our support and guidance. It is most unusual, even unique, to have our voluntary efforts publicly recognised by such a significant award. Training and business support by such prestigious business people is unmeasurable to our organisation.” Fresh Extend, owned by Brian Hampton, was the winner of the Farm Innovations Category. Brian owns a fruit farm and has developed a system that makes the saying “one bad apple spoils the barrel” redundant. His product is completely chemical free and extends the shelf life of apples and other fruit. The winner of the Rural Business Category was Samco Ltd. Samuel Shine developed a bag press as an innovative solution for storing moist feed for farm animals. Now that milk quotas have been removed, farmers will seek to increase production levels and this could solve a lot of the challenges many face in regard to buffer feed storage. Dr Edmond Harty, Dairymaster CEO, said: “We are delighted that a project with a huge community impact has won these awards. The work they do is amazing and the award is truly deserved. Innovation is like baking a cake – once you get the right ingredients, it’s what you do with them that makes the difference. These awards are all about the people, the people who innovate – whether by accident or breaking rules, they find a way. “Agriculture touches the lives of everybody every day. In rural communities and businesses, innovation is the difference between thriving and dying. As a company we’ve always been focused on innovation and people. That is why these awards had to be established and why Dairymaster is sponsoring them,” he said. The awards were established to emphasise the level of innovation that goes on beyond the major urban centres across Ireland. They are sponsored by Dairymaster and are supported by the Irish Farmers Journal, Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.