Prestigious national scholarships awarded to two Offaly people

PRESTIGIOUS scholarships for study in agriculture and agri-business have been awarded to two Offaly people.

Thomas Murray, Banagher and Margaret Edgill from Daingean will be introduced at the annual Nuffield Ireland conference in Dublin on November 18 where they will formally commence their scholarships.

Thomas is an agronomist with O’Shea Farms in Co Kilkenny. As part of his Nuffield Scholarship, he will investigate decision-making tools for the future of potato and vegetable production in Ireland.

He graduated from Waterford Institute of Technology with a Bachelors of Agricultural Science in 2016 and completed a Diploma in Leadership for the Agri-Food sector in 2021 from UCC. Thomas currently advises and manages potato and carrot growers on land selection, seed procurement, agronomy and storage management. Thomas plans to travel to the USA, Canada, Northern Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.

Margaret Edgill is an organic farmer, artisan food producer and grower. As part of her Nuffield Scholarship, Margaret will look to develop a blueprint for farm diversification with a specific focus on the agri-food tourism sector.

Margaret is a graduate from UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business with an MBs specialising in tourism. Since her return to the family farm in 2012 after a career in the arts and event management sector spanning 13 years, she has been pioneering in her capacity to innovate. Margaret’s own farm diversification strategy has been centred on connecting food & farming harmoniously.

The theme for this year’s Nuffield Ireland conference, which will feature a range of panel discussions and presentations is “Moving way beyond greenwashing: developing solutions for a ‘net positive’ agriculture”.

Joe Leonard, Chair, Nuffield Ireland said: “With so much antagonistic and polarised debate on how agriculture can adequately address the enormous climate challenge, our farmers are experiencing huge amounts of additional stress and it is very difficult to see a way forward. Never before has leadership been more important in order to meet our country's climate ambitions in a realistic way.

“I believe that Nuffield Ireland has a role to play in helping to encourage reconciliation on both sides of the debate in order to encourage all parties to work together in developing solutions. I believe that the almost hostile approach to the debate is adding more stress to farmers who are already feeling immense pressure. We need to encourage balanced dialogue in order to ensure the sustainability of our agricultural sector, both from an economic and mental wellbeing perspective.”