Kildare Minister opens first-of-its-kind farming plant in Ireland

The construction of the facility cost €3 million

By Ciarán Mather Published 1st Sep 2026, 17:00 BST (L-R): Kevin O'Connor, Farm Zero C / BiOrbic; James Gaffey, MTU CircBio Research Group; Minister Martin Heydon TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Jason Hawkins, CEO, Carbery, and John O'Brien, Chair, Carbery, pictured at the official opening of Ireland's first on-farm integrated grass biorefinery and anaerobic digestion demonstration facility at Shinagh Estates Demonstration Farm, Bandon, County Cork | PHOTOGRAPH CREDIT: MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN / OSM PHOTO The construction of the facility cost €3 million Sign up to our Kildare Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Kildare Live within your account.

A government minister has opened up a first-of-its-kind farming plant in Ireland.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD (Fine Gael), officially opened Irelands first on-farm demonstration plant, which works to integrate grass biorefining and anaerobic digestion, at the Shinagh Estates Demonstration Farm in County Cork.

Opening the facility, Minister Heydon said: “Today is another significant milestone for the Irish bioeconomy, with the opening of the €3 million integrated grass biorefining and anaerobic digestion demonstration plant here as part of the Farm Zero C project on Shinagh Estate’s dairy farm”

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He added: “Instead of just using grass for one purpose — which is animal feed — this facility will show at a pre-commercial level how we can make further use of our grass and open up new business models and income streams for our grassland farmers.”

(L-R): James Gaffey, MTU CircBio Research Group; Kevin O'Connor, Farm Zero C / BiOrbic; John O'Brien, chair, Carbery; Virginia Puzzulo, head of programme, CBE JU; Minister Martin Heydon TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Jason Hawkins, CEO, Carbery, all pictured at the official opening of Ireland's first on-farm integrated grass biorefinery and anaerobic digestion demonstration facility at Shinagh Estates Demonstration Farm, Bandon, County Cork | PHOTOGRAPH CREDIT: MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN / OSM PHOTO HOW IT WORKS

Minister Heydon’s Department elaborated on what exactly will take place at the new facility.

Firstly, a process known as ‘green biorefining’ is used will separate fresh grass into a fibre-rich press cake for livestock feed.

This allows for a juice stream from which protein and other biobased ingredients to subsequently be recovered.

Following this, what remains can then be directed to anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy and nutrient-rich material with potential for use as biobased fertiliser (subject to quality, agronomic and regulatory requirements).

The potential offered by this project is notable, as Ireland produces some of the highest yields of grass in the world.

Currently, grass has one primary use — as a feed for livestock.

However, following on from research and innovations in recent years, technologies have been specially developed to allow for green biorefining.

According to the Department, the demonstration plant will essentially act as a testing and learning platform — its purpose will be to ‘generate operating evidence, validate feed and bio-based products and business models, support farmer and industry engagement, and reduce the risk involved in wider deployment’.

In addition, it is understood that the facility will also be used by Rural BioReFarmeries, a project which is co-ordinated by Munster Technological University (MTU) and supported with approximately €7.35 million in EU funding through the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) partnership.

This project will use the results delivered by the plant in order to assess the model’s potential for replication across European grassland regions.

Moreover, the Department affirmed that the activities which will be taking place at this facility ‘align with several ambitions and actions’ contained within both the new EU Protein Action Plan and the EU Livestock Strategy.

“The range of products and services that grass biorefining could deliver will also contribute to reducing exposure to volatile international markets and energy costs, while [also] developing new, diversified economic opportunities for grassland farmers,” the Department explained.

Project partners for this plant include Munster Technological University, University College Dublin, Carbery Group, Shinagh Estates, BiOrbic Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy and the University of Galway.