Spotlight on inspirational women in Irish agriculture

A woman who developed one of Ireland’s largest free-range egg producer businesses and a part-time suckler farmer with almost 28,000 followers on social media are just two of the inspirational women who feature in a new agri-publication.

According to the National Rural Network (NRN), historically, women in Irish agriculture played an important support role but “rarely played a leading role”.

But that has all changed, particularly in 2023, according to Associate Professor Maura Farrell from the University of Galway, which is one of the consortium that manages the NRN.

Prof. Farrell said: “The engagement of women in agriculture is increasingly viewed from a broader lens than the family farm, with many women contributing in areas of agricultural education, advisory services, entrepreneurship and farming association leadership.”

She is one member of a team at the NRN which has just published a new booklet – Women in Irish Agriculture – which according to Prof. Farrell highlights the “strength, entrepreneurial spirit and courage of women engaged in farming and the broader world of agriculture”.

In the booklet Niamh McGuiness profiles 12 women who open a window into their lives in the world of agriculture, farming and entrepreneurship.

These include part-time farmers, entrepreneurs, a cheese maker and a leading academic.

Women in agriculture

One of the women featured is Aisling Molloy, a Teagasc advisor, who in the new NRN booklet details her background in agriculture and how she was raised on a drystock and tillage farm in Co. Offaly.

She carried on this passion for farming throughout her education, studying at University College Dublin, where she eventually took on a masters research programme on how Teagasc advisory services can improve the engagement and empowerment of women engaged in farming.

Molloy discovered that many women in farming do not engage with advisory services, despite their interest in the development of their farms.

She found this was due to the sense women had that they were not taken as seriously in groups as males.

Meanwhile, the booklet also features Dr. Edna Curley, who is “the first and only female principal of an agricultural college in Ireland”.

Curley is the principal of Mountbellew Agricultural College in Co. Galway, which is currently working to deliver a Farm Safety and Farm Assurance module aimed specifically at women in agriculture.

Curley said: “A lot of women operating on-farm would like to have more machinery experience but they possibly don’t have anyone to teach them.

“This module gives the opportunity to be trained in on-farm operations and machinery operations.”

Also highlighted in the NRN booklet, is Co. Kerry part-time farmer Karen Moynihan who has 28,000 followers on social media.

Moynihan found a way to hold down a full-time job off-farm while being able to share videos on social media of her life on the farm.

The Co. Kerry farmer has been working on her home farm with the support of her father, who was left paralysed from the chest down following a workplace accident, after which he was forced to downsize the farm.

While her enterprise is small, Moynihan has built up a large following of people who are eager to see her working with her cattle and maintaining the farm with her father.

She said: “I have gotten messages from women saying that they’re inspired by me and my videos which is just so amazing.”

Martina Calvey in another one of the inspirational women in agriculture who shared her story with the NRN. She decided after 30 years of teaching to help run her family’s sheep farm and business, Calvey’s Achill Mountain Lamb, on Achill Island, off Co. Mayo.

She runs her own independent farm, along with the Achill Mountain Lamb business, which is primarily represented by Calvey and her two sisters.