Offaly dairy farmer appointed to charitable trust's Youth Board membership

AIRFIELD Estate, the sustainable food hub and educational charitable trust has announced the new members of its 2025-2026 Youth Board, with one appointment from Offaly.

Emily O’Brien (16) from Croghan is one of 10 teens that have been selected to help inform and shape the future of sustainable food in Ireland. The Youth Board aims to help teens develop skills in sustainability, agriculture and leadership while also providing a platform for a younger generation to impact climate action.

Coming from a dairy farm in Croghan, Co. Offaly, Emily has first-hand experience of food production and is passionate about climate action. Her interest has been developed a result of her family’s efforts to implement more sustainable practices on their farm.

As a member of the Airfield Estate Youth Board, Emily and her peers will be taking part in workshops and talks to help them become future leaders in the food, agriculture and climate action space.

The Airfield Estate Youth Board is a diverse group of young people aged 15 – 19 from across Ireland who are passionate about shaping a more sustainable food future. Acting as advisors to the Estate’s leadership team, the Youth Board brings fresh perspectives to projects and decision-making processes, ensuring that youth voices are represented at Airfield Estate.

READ NEXT: Fifty six pubs have closed in Offaly since 2005, new report reveals

Speaking about the appointments, Airfield Estate CEO Claire Mac Evilly said “Our mission at Airfield Estate is to maintain the legacy created by the Overend sisters and to safeguard sustainable food production and education for future generations. There's

no better way to do that than to invite young people in and empower them to participate directly in our activities and projects. While our team will be on hand to share resources and facilitate, we look forward to hearing new ways of thinking, and learning from our new members how best to cultivate and protect our shared future”.

The first term of the Youth Board, which began in 2023 and lasted two years, recently conducted research and published a report titled “Food Systems Though the Eyes of Young People” exploring how the younger generations perceive the food system and their role within it. The newly recruited cohort will be working together to develop a campaign which builds upon the findings of the previous cohort’s research.

For more information visit www.airfield.ie or follow @airfieldestate on Instagram and Facebook

READ NEXT: Offaly Climate and Biodiversity Action Group to hold its first public event