THE LONG READ: Offaly man reflects on challenges facing farming as he retires following successful Teagasc career

BLUEBALL native Con Feighery has retired from Teagasc after a highly successful career spanning over four and a half decades.

The affable 70-year-old's last posting was as Chief Agricultural Officer (CAO) in four counties – Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan and Monaghan – a highly challenging role in a region he regards as "being too big".

During his career, Con served as CAO in Longford, Kildare, Offaly and Laois after first taking up the role of CAO in Longford in 1995.

Describing his job as "very rewarding", Con said he has witnessed a transformation in Irish agriculture since he first joined the old County Committee of Agriculture in the late 1970s.

"The focus has now very much shifted to environmental issues," he outlined.

Added Con: "Irish agriculture is very different to 45 years ago. Food production has increased and is of a higher quality. Farm structure has changed – we now have bigger and more mechanised farms. Young farmers entering the industry today have higher levels of education."

From a farming background, Con grew up in Coolanarney and was educated at the local national school before attending the Patrician College in Ballyfin as a boarder.

He completed the Leaving Certificate in 1971. "We did Agriculture Science in Ballyfin and I liked it and it got me interested in pursuing a degree in the sector in University College Cublin."

As part of his studies he spent a year at Mounbellew Agricultural College before graduating in 1976. He finally completed his third level education a year later – at the age of 23 - after gaining a Masters Degree.

He took up his first role in the world of work with Wicklow County Committee of Agriculture being based in the west of the county around the Baltinglass area.

He spent nine months there, sharing the office with a close friend, before a vacancy came up in Offaly.

"There was no interview – you had to canvass the 15 members of the County Committee of Agriculture at the time," remembered Con and the successful candidate was decided by a vote.

"I started in Offaly in August 1978 and at the time there was no specialist advisors so I was a sort of jack of all trades."

He served in the wider Clara and Rahan areas and dealt with dairying, livestock, sheep, tillage and financial issues.

In July 1980, ACOT was formed - an amalgamation of all the County Committees of Agriculture - and for the first time there was a national body charged with an educational and advisory remit.

Earlier that year, Con had taken up a post in Nenagh with the North Tipperary County Committee of Agriculture and he was based in the Nenagh/./Borrisokane area, right up to Lough Derg.

"My memory of Nenagh is that there were very high interest rates at the time and many farmers were in a bad situation financially. A lot of my time was spent dealing with financial institutions on behalf of farm families."

In July 1981 Con move to the ACOT office in Birr where he spent just six weeks before being transferred to Tullamore.

He covered the area directly east of Tullamore encompassing Killeigh, Ballydaly, Kilmurry and surrounding townslands.

Based in the old Sheena building on the Charleville road in Tullamore, Con served under the late Michael Hassett, then Offaly CAO.

Tom Collins was appointed CAO in Offaly in 1984 and the following year specialisation came in which meant advisors concentrated on a sole area.

Con choose education as his specialisation and was involved for ten years teaching young farmers under the Green Certificate programme.

The programme was delivered in Sheena with outreach services in both Birr and Edenderry.

Teagasc was founded in 1987 and took on three roles – research, advisory and education. Research up until then was the function of An Foras Taluntais whose disbandment did not meet with universal approval.

The 1980s were lean years financially with little investment in the organisation but that changed during the Celtic Tiger period and in 1995 four to five CAO vacancies opened up across the State.

Con was successful when he applied for the position of Longford CAO. "I discovered the county had been bereft of staff and we had a fight on our hands to secure new people," he recalled.

"Due to under-investment a lot of business had been lost to private consultants," he revealed.

His appointment in Longford co-incided with the introduction of the REPs environment scheme which involved applicants drawing up farm plans.

"Aged 40, I was delighted to be appointed CAO in Longford and move into a management role in the Teagasc organisation," he said.

After 18 months in Longford, Con secured the position of CAO in Kildare, being based in Naas.

"Longford was a largely drystock county while there was a lot of tillage in Kildare, particularly in the southern part of the county," he pointed out.

He spent four years in Kildare before moving to Laois as CAO in November 2000.

"I was delighted with that as my commute was greatly reduced."

In 2005, Teagasc introduced a rationalisation programme with the number of CAOs being reduced from 28 to 18 nationally.

Laois was amalgamated with Kildare and Con found himself back in Naas looking after both counties, a post he held until 2011 when he moved back to Offaly to manage affairs in the Faithful County as well as Westmeath, Cavan and Monaghan.

"It was a big, challenging role keeping an eye on the four counties," said Con who was chiefly based in Tullamore but also travelled to the other three counties on a regular basis.

Recalling his role he said: "If something arrived on your desk it was a problem looking for a solution."

Con should have retired from his role at 65 but six months prior to his birthday legislation was changed to allow people stay on until the age of 70. "I was glad to do so as I felt I still had a lot to give," he outlined. Con retired on May 3 last and the new CAO for the four-county region is Tom Kelleher from Cavan.

Reflecting on the issues which he faced during his career, Con said the 1970’s and 1980’s saw big increases in farm incomes due to CAP price supports and better prices for farm products.

"When I joined the organisation in 1977 the major scheme in operation was the Farm Modernisation Scheme which was supporting the delivery of new infrastructure on farms – cattle housing, silage pits, slurry storage etc. This scheme was very successful."

He added that "farmers borrowed heavily to avail of these better supports and when interest rates increased significantly in the early 1980’s a lot of farmers got into financial difficulty."

The retiring CAO conceded CAP supports caused over production and as a result the EU introduced intervention buying of products to maintain prices. This caused butter and beef mountains.

"Over production of milk led to the introduction of milk quotas in the 80’s that ran until 2015."

In the early noughties, outlined Con, CAP supports were decoupled from production and now the Basic Payment Scheme supports farms on a per hectare basis

Looking at the current position of agriculture, Con said the biggest challenge for all sectors is to farm in a sustainable manner in relation to water quality, biodiversity and reduced emissions as part of the Climate Action Plan.  Teagasc is supporting farmers with the ASSAP and Climate Action Programme.

"The need for new blood entering the industry is important and a new Early Retirement Scheme for farmers being suggested by the Government is very welcome," he outlined.

Con added that the young Offaly farmers that he helped train and who completed education courses having successful careers farming commercially was always a source of satisfaction for him professionally.

Married to Jacinta (nee Daly, from Cappincur), Con has six children and lives with his wife in Mucklagh.

Still hail and hearty, he has been busy in the word of politics since his retirement as his son is Cllr Neil Feighery, the Fine Gael public representative who topped the poll in the Tullamore Local Electoral Area in the recent local elections.

Con and other members of his family were busy canvassing for Neil throughout May and have another battle on their hands now as he is contesting the Fine Gael General Election Convention on Thursday week, August 29, in the Tullamore Court Hotel.

So as the chapter that dominated Con's working life comes to a close a new chapter centred on politics is opening for the Coolanarney native.