As The Dealer exclusively reported on farmersjournal.ie last Saturday, one of Teagasc’s most senior beef men, Paul Crosson, is packing his bags and heading for the exit.

The Co Cavan native is converting from beef to dairy and is joining LacPatrick co-op. LacPatrick is the name of the co-op following the merger of Ballyrashane co-op in Northern Ireland and Town of Monaghan co-op in the Republic.

Reacting to The Dealer, LacPatrick issued a statement on Tuesday confirming that Crosson has been appointed “group technical support manager”. A fancy title, no doubt.

However, Crosson is not the only bigwig leaving Teagasc. I’m reliably informed that the respected and well-regarded Thia Hennessy is leaving the economics division to join University College Cork (UCC), while tillage adviser Tim O’Donovan is leaving to join the Waterford-based wholesale seed company Seedtech.

Hennessy’s departure to UCC should be seen as a good thing as there has been a dearth of good agri-economists in the university sector.

Sustainable food production man in Wexford, Rogier Schulte, along with his wife Rachel Creamer, are also leaving the authority later in the year for a return to academia in Europe.

August 2014 saw the exit of soil fertility expert Stan Lalor from Teagasc into the private sector when he joined fertiliser company Grassland Agro.

The mass exodus of people from Teagasc into the private sector is not only concerning in the short term, but highlights the difficulties the authority faces.

Bound by a State-induced employed embargo between 2008 and last year, Teagasc had little opportunity to plan for the future by investing in good people.

In short, the replacement strategy was stifled and now Teagasc is looking around at buying in stock.

There is also a growing sense of frustration from within some corners of Teagasc. Last month saw the first round of promotions in a number of years, but has the discontent set in?

Can Teagasc compete with the emerging financial clout of the private sector and what does that mean for the future of the body tasked with research and education in the agri sector?

Teagasc director Gerry Boyle said it is a sign that the organisation has good staff.