Governor Kim Reynolds visited Lyons Farm in Ireland on Thursday as part of her trip to explore agricultural practices and innovations ahead of the Iowa State Cyclones and Kansas State Wildcats matchup in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.

Lyons Farm, part of the University College Dublin system, serves as an educational hub for various agricultural fields. Governor Reynolds’ visit aimed to compare the agricultural advancements in Iowa with those in Ireland, seeking opportunities for collaboration and scaling of technologies.

“So when you take what they’re doing here at UCD, Lyons Farms and you take what we’re doing in Iowa, we also have a research ag farm and talk about the technology and the innovation that each of us are doing and bring that together and see where each of us are at, and then look for opportunities to build on that and to scale it,” said Governor Reynolds.

During her visit, Governor Reynolds expressed her excitement about the upcoming football game between the Cyclones and Wildcats, which is set to kickoff in Dublin at Aviva Stadium on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Iowa time. “Well, of course, I’m very excited and I’m here to see a Cyclone win,” she said.

Mary Lawlor, a farmer from Stoney Road Farm in rural Ireland, highlighted the significance of agriculture in Ireland. “Well, obviously is the backbone of Ireland, and it always has been, because of our green grass here and the ease the grass grows with. So we have lots of grass for the animals and both dairy and beef has always been our lifeline. Obviously, sheep as well. Pigs to a certain extent, but not so much now anymore. But beef and dairy is the big thing for us,” Lawlor explained.

Governor Reynolds’ visit to Ireland underscores the potential for international collaboration in agricultural innovation, with both Iowa and Ireland looking to share and expand their technological advancements.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WHO 13 News. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WHO 13 News staff before being published.