Dr Grainne Hurley has been appointed as Teagasc’s regional advisory manager in the West Cork region.
The appointment, approved at a Teagasc Authority meeting on Wednesday, will see Dr Hurley lead the Teagasc team delivering advisory and educational services in West Cork.
From a dairy farm in Dunmanway, the Cork woman is currently working as a business and technology dairy advisor and is the co-ordinator of the Teagasc/Dairygold joint programme for the last four years.
According to Teagasc, Dr Hurley has worked closely with the 10 monitor farmers involved in the partnership and has led the dissemination of technical information to milk suppliers in the catchment area.
More recently, she has incorporated the new Signpost Programme - Farmers for Climate Action, into the joint programme in order to encourage farmers in the area to reduce their emissions, capture carbon, improve water quality and improve biodiversity.
Background
Dr Hurley graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) with a degree in agricultural science in 2004.
She later went on to complete her PhD in Queens University Belfast (QUB) in 2007 as a Teagasc Walsh Scholar. More recently she completed a Teagasc certificate in business management from the UCD Michael Smurfit business school.
The Corkonian first joined the Teagasc advisory service in Kerry and was based in Killarney as a dairy advisor. She then moved to her current position as a business and technology dairy advisor based in Clonakilty.
On her appointment, Dr Hurley said: “I am really looking forward to taking on this management role in Teagasc, and working closely both with the excellent team in West Cork, but also nationally as the organisation develops new support services for farmers to meet the environmental challenges.
“We have a dynamic group of farmers in the region that produce high-quality food from grass-based production systems and they are already embracing these challenges and adopting new technologies.”
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