Boortmalt is extending its team of agronomists to advise its malting barley growers. The number of active agronomists has increased from three to five and this involved some location swaps.

The advisers have been trained in discussion group facilitation, as the company is to participate in the Department’s Knowledge Transfer Programme.

The plan is have the agronomists organise growers into discussion groups to aid technology uptake and information transfer. Boortmalt has also teamed up with FarmFlo to utilise its cloud-based crop records package to help with the traceability of the full production cycle.

The agronomists are:

  • Ciara O’Donovan in the Enniscorthy area.
  • Grace O’Reilly in Co Laois.
  • Edward Kehoe in New Ross and south Wexford.
  • Eoin McDonald, who will now work around Athy, having moved from Wexford.
  • Henry Deacon, who will continue to operate in Co Carlow.

    • The objective is to improve the level of service that agronomists provide to each grower. It is hoped that participation in the new Knowledge Transfer Programme will result in a network of malting barley grower discussion groups.