The outgoing director of Teagasc, Prof. Gerry Boyle, said today (Friday, September 24), that he “profoundly regrets” that his recent remarks on dairy beef caused “such considerable annoyance and offence”.
Boyle noted that many beef producers as well as advisory colleagues in Teagasc had been troubled by the unscripted comments, which came in answer to a question at a recent Dublin Economics Workshop.
He added that he “unreservedly apologises” for the offence caused.
In a statement this evening, Boyle went on to remark that this was never his intention and “while my remarks were taken out of context, their effect was nevertheless to deeply offend so many people that I have worked with over the years”.
Prof. Boyle said that his remarks were taken to imply that Teagasc had adopted a policy position in favour of dairy beef over sucklers, an impression he said was “most unfortunate”.
He stated that Teagasc’s role was not to promote any particular enterprise, and that the impression created by his remarks was “completely contrary to the substantial investment that Teagasc had made in its beef programme during my period as director”.
“Teagasc has no business being involved in policy advocacy. Teagasc’s role is to undertake quality research and advisory work on all feasible farming enterprises and to lay out the facts concerning margins and sustainability before farmers,” the outgoing director added.
“Farmers then assess this information in consultation with their advisors and decide for themselves whether to adopt the given enterprise. Farmers have to make the investments and take the risk.”
Boyle said that he had himself developed this position over the years and that it was also endorsed by the Teagasc Authority on several occasions.
He agreed that it was “most unfortunate that my remarks would cause this position to be called into question”.
“Teagasc’s role is to improve the livelihoods of Irish farmers on a sustainable basis. Teagasc’s advisors and researchers work on a daily basis in pursuit of this objective and I hope this ill-considered remark would not affect this great work,” Boyle added.
He also pointed to examples of Teagasc’s activity in supporting beef farmers through an “an integrated set of research, advisory and education services”.