Teagasc given more freedom to recruit within €63.2m salary bill
Most new appointees have replaced unfilled vacancies arising from the recruitment ban imposed during the recession years.
Teagasc now has more freedom to recruit to fill skills gaps in its evolving agri-food support role, once it stays within a €63.2m annual salary bill.
“We can’t go mad and employ too many people on high salaries, but living within that cap has given us greater flexibility to recruit to meet our needs,” said Teagasc director Gerry Boyle.
“We always have ambitions to recruit staff with new skills.
“We want to employ people in the big data area — which is as important in agriculture as it is in many other industries. New technology is moving at a fast pace, and we need to make a good case to recruit the right people in this area.”
Prof Boyle spoke at the unveiling of Teagasc’s 2015 annual report.
Total income of €175m for 2015, up €10m on 2014. Research income rose by €4.3m (17%), with €3.5m of that increase coming from externally funded research projects.
Teagasc had a very busy 2015, publishing 400 A1 scientific papers, servicing 43,000 farmer clients and enrolling 3,500 learners in its adult Green Cert education programme, up from the normal level of around 500 applicants per annum.
The surge in interest in adult courses was largely down to the Green Cert being required to qualify for the five-year young farmer top-up and the National Reserve payments.
“We have around 3,500 applicants on a waiting list,” said Prof Boyle.
Also during 2015, Teagasc published a national strategic plan for advisory services, added two Teagasc-bred grass varieties, glenroyal and solas, to the DAFM-recommended list, developed the new white clover variety called buddy, established a new post- doctoral development programme, and signed a joint declaration with INRA, France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research.
In the same year, it launched an online nutrient management planning tool, opened the Paddy O’Keeffe Dairy and Grassland Innovation Centre at Teagasc Moorepark, invested €10m in a new pilot plant facility in Moorepark, and was named as the host institute of the new Enterprise Ireland-funded Meat Technology Centre.
Also in 2015, Teagasc published beef production system guidelines for 14 cattle systems, launched its Dairy Expansion Service, published the ‘Reaching New Heights’ sport horse report, tracked 84,000 sows on the Teagasc eProfit Monitor PigSys recording system, and delivered 15 level-five organic production courses.
Teagasc chair Noel Cawley said: “2015 was a busy year for Teagasc in its research, advisory, and education functions.
“That high level of output has continued into 2016, as we work closely with the Department of Agriculture and other partners in the sector to achieve the objectives of the Food Wise 2025 Strategy.”
