Dairy business degree programme to commence at UCD in September

A NEW degree programme in dairy business was launched in University College Dublin (UCD) yesterday and will commence in September.

It was developed by UCD and Teagasc, with guidance from the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), which mooted the idea.

Dr David Beehan, chief inspector in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, who launched the programme, said it came at a time of significant challenges for the dairy sector.

Allied to the current economic crisis and the low price of commodities, the dairy sector would have to adjust to the phasing out, and ultimate removal, of milk quotas by 2013.

He said the sector makes a major contribution to the Irish economy, adding in excess of e2 billion to food exports and encompassing some 20,000 dairy farmers and 8,500 employees in the processing industry, and supporting an additional 4,500 positions in ancillary services.

“If you need to be convinced of the need for this degree programme, you could look to the significance of the sector in the Irish economy, but it’s also important to look at the challenges facing the sector,” he said.

Despite the economic climate, Dr Beehan was optimistic about the future of the dairy sector.

“We have an international image that we need to continue to perfect,” he said.

“We operate on a low-cost, grass-based diet system, which will further aid our competitiveness, with energy and feed costs as limiting factors to our competitors.”

Dr Beehan said that despite recent volatility, the outlook for prices in the medium-term was positive owing to significant world demand for dairy products based on an increasing world population and economic growth in developing countries.

IFA president Padraig Walshe said he was delighted to see the initiative, which he had put forward at Moorepark in 2007, coming to fruition.

“I strongly believe the difficulties caused by the current downturn make it even more imperative that we have professional dairy farmers who are equipped to deal with the challenges posed by the new market volatility in which they will operate,” he said.

Professor Maurice Boland, principal of the UCD College of Life Sciences, said the programme would strengthen existing collaborations between UCD and Teagasc.

Teagasc director, Professor Gerry Boyle, said the programme would facilitate the expansion of dairying in Ireland.