Teagasc has confirmed the appointment of Noel Meehan as head of its Water Quality Knowledge Transfer Department.

The appointment was approved by the Teagasc Authority at its recent meeting.

Due to a "rapid expansion" of the Teagasc environment knowledge transfer (KT) activities in the last couple of years, it was decided to form two departments.

The first department is climate and biodiversity which will be led by Dr Tom O’Dwyer, and the second focused on water quality which will be headed up by Noel Meehan.

John Spink, head of the Teagasc Crops, Environment and Land Use Programme congratulated Noel on his new appointment.

"He has also worked in advisory services as an agri environment planner and as a business and technology advisor.

"As head of the Water Quality KT Department, Noel will lead the Better Farming for Water (BFFW) campaign," he said.

The new department will bring together all of Teagasc KT activities related to water quality into one department.

This will include the ASSAP, the advisory part of the Agricultural Catchment Programme (ACP), and nutrient management (NMP online), which the Teagasc Better Farming for Water (BFFW) campaign will build on.

Commenting on his appointment, Noel Meehan said: "We have a great opportunity to support farmers to implement water protection measures and move agriculture into an era of sustained water quality improvement.”

John Spink thanked Pat Murphy, former head of the Teagasc Environment KT Department, who has retired after a long career, working in a number of business units in Teagasc.