International Women’s Day 2022 took place on the 8th of March. To celebrate, the National Rural Network highlighted a different woman in the agricultural sector each day from the 7th – 11th March to highlight the integral and influential role of women in agriculture.
The women highlighted include Aisling Molloy, Drystock Advisor with Teagasc; Gillian Westbrook, CEO of the Irish Organic Association and MOPS EIP-AGRI Project Manager; Teresa Roche of Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese; Dr. Jessica McKillop, Manager on the Business Continuity Team for Fáilte Ireland; and Anne Marie Feighery of Feighery’s Farm Beetroot Juice.
Aisling Molloy is a Drystock Advisor with Teagasc and one of the founding members of the South-East Women in Farming group. Aisling has written an NRN Guest Blog entitled ‘Promoting Irish Farm Women’s Engagement with Agricultural Advisory Services’, in which she presents some findings and recommendations from her MAgrSc research thesis entitled ‘How Teagasc Advisory Services Can Improve Engagement with an Empowerment of Farm Women’. Aisling discusses in this blog that farm women’s learning needs must be considered when designing future agricultural advisory programmes.
Read Aisling’s guest blog here. Aisling’s blog can also be found on page 21 of the NRN’s Rural Voices: Farm Viability and Competitiveness Guest Blogs – Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020 booklet.
Gillian Westbrook is the CEO of the Irish Organic Association and Maximising Organic Production Systems (MOPS) EIP-AGRI Project Manager. Gillian has written an EIP-AGRI Guest Blog for the NRN, which provides an overview of the MOPS project and some insights and lessons learned from this innovative project which she has managed.
Read Gillian’s EIP-AGRI Guest Blog here. Gillian’s blog can also be found on page 13 of the NRN’s Multi-Actor Perspectives: EIP-AGRI Guest Blogs – Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020 booklet.
Teresa Roche is the founder of Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese. In 2017, Teresa developed her own on-farm cheese manufacturing facility from her home farm in Kylemore Abbey, Loughrea, Co. Galway. In 2018, Teresa used LEADER funding to grow her business by purchasing a number of pieces of equipment. Teresa has also developed her own farm shop and has won multiple awards for many aspects of her business. A full case study produced by the NRN on Teresa and her business is available here.
Dr. Jessica McKillop is a manager on the Business Continuity Team for Fáilte Ireland and former Teagasc Walsh fellow. Jessica has written a Farm Viability Guest Blog for the NRN, entitled ‘Young Farmers, Decision-making and Innovation’, which highlights the key role of young farmers in ensuring the sustainability of agricultural production in an era of unprecedented growth in global population levels.
Read Jessica’s Farm Viability Guest Blog here. Jessica’s blog can also be found on page 17 of the NRN’s Rural Voices: Farm Viability and Competitiveness Guest Blogs – Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020 booklet.
Anne Marie Feighery is the founder of Feighery’s Farm Beetroot Juice. In 2019, Anne Marie launched her innovative agri-food business which produces Beetroot Juice using pesticide-free beetroot grown by her father and brothers on their family farm on Co. Offaly. Anne Marie’s product has won multiple awards and has brought a new lease of life to her family farm. Anne Marie will feature as one of the women in the NRN’s upcoming Women in Agriculture Booklet, which includes case studies of innovative women in various sectors of Irish agriculture.
A full case study produced by the NRN on Anne Marie and her business can be viewed here.
Find out more about Anne Marie and her business here: https://www.feigherysfarm.ie/about-us/.
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Image Credit: NRN
Source: NRN
