Professor Eamonn Gallagher, who passed away 11 August, was the former dean of the faculty of general agriculture at University College Dublin. He assumed this challenging academic responsibility in the 1980s, a time when Irish agriculture was beginning to experience the benefits of CAP and when grain growers sought to increase yields through improved crop husbandry techniques.
At that time, a ground-breaking approach to winter wheat and winter barley management was emerging from the University of Gembloux in southern Belgium. Trials had shown that a significant yield increase could be achieved through a combination of split nitrogen applications and the use of tramlines. Prof Gallagher forged links with Gembloux and replicated the trials at the UCD farm at Lyons Estate and later at Oakpark in Carlow. A huge interest in this system approach to crop management developed in Ireland, with Prof Gallagher leading several fact-finding tours to Belgium. His crop husbandry open days in Ireland gave way to conferences on the subject.
Those of us who passed through the school of agriculture at that time experienced a dean who was fair yet demanding of his undergraduates. He was very generous with his time, often remaining on late to either participate at or chair AgSoc debates or seminars.
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On our graduation day, he extolled the multi-disciplinary attributes of the ag science degree – its role not just in Irish agriculture, but also in our everyday lives. He encouraged us to contemplate a master’s degree at some point in our careers and to balance the scientific nature of our basic qualification with an MBA plus experience. This advice is as relevant today as it was in the economic hardship of the mid 1980s. May the road rise to meet him.
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Professor Eamonn Gallagher, who passed away 11 August, was the former dean of the faculty of general agriculture at University College Dublin. He assumed this challenging academic responsibility in the 1980s, a time when Irish agriculture was beginning to experience the benefits of CAP and when grain growers sought to increase yields through improved crop husbandry techniques.
At that time, a ground-breaking approach to winter wheat and winter barley management was emerging from the University of Gembloux in southern Belgium. Trials had shown that a significant yield increase could be achieved through a combination of split nitrogen applications and the use of tramlines. Prof Gallagher forged links with Gembloux and replicated the trials at the UCD farm at Lyons Estate and later at Oakpark in Carlow. A huge interest in this system approach to crop management developed in Ireland, with Prof Gallagher leading several fact-finding tours to Belgium. His crop husbandry open days in Ireland gave way to conferences on the subject.
Those of us who passed through the school of agriculture at that time experienced a dean who was fair yet demanding of his undergraduates. He was very generous with his time, often remaining on late to either participate at or chair AgSoc debates or seminars.
On our graduation day, he extolled the multi-disciplinary attributes of the ag science degree – its role not just in Irish agriculture, but also in our everyday lives. He encouraged us to contemplate a master’s degree at some point in our careers and to balance the scientific nature of our basic qualification with an MBA plus experience. This advice is as relevant today as it was in the economic hardship of the mid 1980s. May the road rise to meet him.
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