Do you remember your favourite teacher? Perhaps it was that person in third class, a gentle soul who encouraged you out of your shell? Maybe it was that Leaving Cert English tutor who brought out your love of writing, or the French teacher who introduced you to the world of languages. For so many people there was one, and for Thia Hennessy it was Professor Seamus Sheehy at UCD, the well-known agricultural economist. He brought the subject of agricultural economics alive and sparked an interest in the young Cork woman, who had left the family farm in Blarney.

“I’m the youngest of seven, both my brothers are farming and two of my sisters are married to farmers, so I grew up surrounded by dinner table discussions about milk prices,” Thia tells Irish Country Living.

“I had completed a degree in economics and finance at Maynooth, before doing a business master’s at UCD with specialisation in agri business, but I knew from early days that it was where I wanted to take my career.”

In fact, given that her time at UCD also led her to meet her future husband, Emmett, you could say it was a very successful year overall.

Teagasc Talent

When a Cork woman gets with a Tyrone man though, you have to meet in the middle, and after a year learning the ropes at AIB, Thia landed herself a role in Teagasc, which at the time was based in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

In fact, for many years, Teagasc and Thia Hennessy went hand in hand. She worked at the organisation for 18 years and even if you’ve met Thia, many readers would be very familiar with an important piece of research she worked on: the annual Teagasc national farm survey.

“Teagasc was a busy and exciting place to work, from the very beginning. I went in as a contract researcher working on a high-profile project, FAPRI-the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute. At the time, Professor Gerry Boyle was a special advisor to John Bruton, who was Taoiseach, and both were on a tour of the US when they visited a university which had a department programme focused on economic modelling.

“So it would do outlooks for agricultural commodity prices, analyse how a policy change, such as Brexit for example in current days terms, would impact on beef prices. John Bruton was a farmer himself and Gerry Boyle had an agricultural economics background – both could see the benefits of such a programme here, so they brought back the expertise and the FAPRI unit was established. It was a great opportunity at the time to meet people active in the agri food sector at a very early stage of my career.”

National farm survey

Over the years, Thia worked in different parts of the organisation, but being appointed Head of the Department of Economics in Galway meant leading the Teagasc national farm survey – the official source of data on farm incomes in Ireland, which is also supplied to Brussels as the official European data on Irish farming.

This piece of research has been running for 44 years, but Thia was determined to put her own stamp on it.

“Although the research is very focused on farm incomes, we worked at expanding it, to collect more environmental data. Something I would be proud of now is that we have enough data to record the carbon footprint of both beef and milk production, evidence to support work like the Origin Green programme, where we collated independent scientific data to show that Ireland is one of the most carbon-efficient countries in the world to produce food.”

Don’t Shoot the Messenger

The survey itself though wasn’t always a positive read. In fact, sometimes it was quite grim.

“Sometimes we were making price predictions, forecasting that prices would fall on the back of policies that were introduced, and when you are saying things people don’t want to hear, there can be a ‘shoot the messenger’ kind of mindset. However, you have to balance that with the fact that people need to have information and evidence, even if it isn’t something they want to hear.

“It is important from a business-planning perspective to have good information about current and projected levels of profitability, so people can plan ahead and invest appropriately. Okay, it’s not always good news, but that’s the nature of economics.”

These days, Thia is doing forecasting of a different kind, right back at home in UCC as Head of Food Business and Development. In fact, the day that Irish Country Living sat down with Thia, she had just taken over as Head of the Business School.

“It is just an acting position while the role itself is being filled,” she explained. All the same, it’s a big step to take having joined the university just under a year ago. And this lady has big ideas for the direction that UCC should take with regard to food business.

“The business school itself has ambitious plans to gain international accreditation and is committed to investing €100 million in a new business school in the city centre in the coming years. Within my department, there is also a big focus on the future, specifically in relation to the agricultural offerings to students.”

Future of Ag Education

“Something we are considering at UCC is that you can study so many different subjects here, but one thing we are missing is Ag Science. Before I joined, Professor Paul Ross was appointed as Head of Science Engineering and Food Science. Paul also came from Teagasc and we both feel there is a demand for an agricultural course at UCC.

“We are based in the heartland of farming in Ireland, but so many young people are heading up to Dublin to study Ag Science. Setting up an offering like that is no mean feat, with lots of practical stumbling blocks, but we are exploring options in the area and consulting experts in the agricultural industry to see what might be possible.”

Given that many colleges are offering agricultural courses, is it somewhat a saturated market?

“Potentially, but within UCC there is a very strong information systems department, so a specialisation in technology and informatics, especially in relation to how it could be applied within the agricultural industry, is definitely something that would be a unique offering.”

It’s hard to say what Thia Hennessy’s next move is, but one thing is for sure, it will be one to watch out for. CL