Offaly duo win prestigious farming scholarships

Thomas Murray from Banagher and Margaret Edgill from Daingean have been announced as two of the recipients of a Nuffield Ireland scholarship for 2023.

On Friday, November 18, they will attend the Nuffield Ireland annual conference in the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin where they will formally commence their scholarships.

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

Thomas 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 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 a 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 and farming harmoniously.

The Nuffield Ireland conference takes place on Friday, November 18, in the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin. The theme for this year’s event, 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."

Tickets can be purchased on www.nuffield.ie.