Inspector’s role key to organic sector

Like me, Fergus Cronin took over from the late David Storey. While I took over this column , Fergus Cronin took over his organic inspections. We spoke about Fergus’s role as an organic inspector, and what that entails.

What was your background before you were an organic inspector?

My mother’s family were dairy farmers from Tarbert in north Kerry. I had worked as a vet since 1989, in mixed practice in west Clare, dealing with all creatures great and small, but primarily cattle. As a vet, I quite quickly began to realise that most of the problems I was trying to resolve were caused by too many livestock on the farm. Indirectly, a lot of the problems were caused by overstocking. I was a vet for Hugh Robson in Clare, and he told me the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA) were recruiting. That was 1997.