Rev Fr Jim Conlon died on March 4 at Greenpark Nursing Home in Armagh. He served for many years as farm manager at Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey in Portglenone.

Dr Les Gornall, a biodigestion expert from Magherafelt, called Fr Conlon a pioneer of sustainable farming and renewable energy practices.

In the early 1980s, Fr Conlon convinced his Cistercian community at the abbey to shift from chemical-dependent agriculture. The farm eliminated artificial fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides. It focused instead on rebuilding soil fertility, increasing pasture diversity, and cycling nutrients.

Fr Conlon worked with Leslie Gornall, then a research student at the University of Ulster, and James Murcott of Farm Gas Ltd to install one of the first full-scale farm anaerobic digestion systems in the UK and Ireland. The digester started operations in 1985 at the abbey near Portglenone.

The system processed manure from 300 beef cattle and 27,000 broiler chickens, plus silage effluent and other organic wastes. It produced biogas to heat the monastery and dry organic grain. It also separated nutrients, with phosphorus captured for compost and nitrogen applied to pastures.

Fr Conlon managed daily operations, including livestock care, digester feeding, and integration of energy production, composting, crop drying, and organic farming. The abbey sold compost as a peat substitute and golf course products. Its farm shop offered organically grown stone-ground oats dried with digester energy.

The farm adopted diverse pastures with grass, clover, and medicinal herbs. It used clover and digestate for nitrogen and harvested dock seed heads for the digester. Livestock health improved, and veterinary needs decreased.

Fr Conlon received national and international awards. He hosted visitors to explain the systems. Northern Ireland now has more biogas plants per capita than any other UK country.

Funeral services occurred at The Church of The Immaculate Conception in Tullysaran, Armagh, with burial in Old Tullysaran Cemetery.