Teagasc eyes agri-food expansion with three key appointments
Marion Beecher has been named as programme co-ordinator for Teagasc’s Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management. Dr Siobhan Kavanagh is Teagasc’s new regional manager for the Wicklow, Carlow, and Wexford region, and Tom Kellegher is the new regional manager for Roscommon and Longford.
Ms Beecher, a native of Cork from a dairy farm background and who recently completed a PhD in dairy nutrition, will be based in Fermoy at the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark. She will liaise with learners, host farmers, and Teagasc staff involved in the programme and will lead programme promotion and recruitment.
She said: “I am looking forward to working with students and host farmers and getting their feedback to develop and improve the programme as necessary.”
The core element of the professional diploma is a two-year work experience with approved dairy farmers. Participants are required to spend 12 months on a Teagasc-approved host farm and then move to a new host.
Closing date for applications is Friday, July 11. Application packs are available on Teagasc.ie.
Dr Pat Dillon, head of the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Programme, emphasised the future farm managerial opportunities that will arise in the dairy sector given the scale of expansion now occurring.
“Meeting the Food Harvest 2020 targets for the dairy sector requires just as much emphasis on developing people’s capacity to manage larger dairy herds in a post quota environment, as on dairy facilities and husbandry,” Dr Dillon said.
“Regardless of whether young people intend returning to their own dairy farm, or managing dairy herds for others, the farm management expertise to be gained through the Teagasc Dairy Diploma will be invaluable.”
The Teagasc advisory service to farmers is led by 12 regional managers. The appointments of Dr Kavanagh and Mr Kellegher arise from vacancies following the retirement of John Keating and the untimely death of Oliver Burke earlier this year.
Dr Kavanagh is a ruminant nutrition specialist with Teagasc. A native of Wexford and currently living in Kilkenny, she qualified with a BAgrSc, MAgrSc and PhD from University College Dublin, and holds a diploma in farm financial management from Waterford Institute of Technology.
Dr Kavanagh has worked as a ruminant nutrition specialist with Teagasc since January 2001. She has developed nutritional programmes that deliver sustainable growth, efficiency, competitiveness, and profitability on dairy and drystock farms.
She also played the lead role in the management of the Teagasc response to the national fodder crisis in 2012/13 and has provided training and technical support to the feed industry.
Mr Kellegher is from Currin, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan. He joined Teagasc in 1998 as a horticultural development officer providing technical support to the mushroom industry in Ireland and the UK.
He manages the Teagasc contract with Commercial Mushroom Producers and has played a lead role in assisting CMP in managing a producer organisation of substantial value to the mushroom industry annually.
He graduated from University College Dublin with a BAgrSc, and worked with Killeshandra Co-op (now Lakeland Dairies) and as a technical adviser in Monaghan Mushrooms prior to joining Teagasc.
While with Teagasc, he developed a mushroom harvester training programme which is Fetac accredited, to upskill those working in the mushroom industry.
Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle, said: “We are fortunate to have people of the calibre of Siobhan and Tom to lead the Teagasc advisory and regional education service for farmers in these two regions.
“The local support for implementation of the measures in the newly reformed CAP on farms, meeting the increased demand for educational courses, and leading the transfer of technology onto farms, is the priority as producers grow and develop their businesses in these regions.”
