Dr. Vanessa Woods has won the inaugural RDS Sustainable Agri Start-Up Award 2022 for her science communication consultancy business Vanessa B. Woods Communications.
Speaking after her recent win at the RDS Spring Agriculture and Forestry Awards, Dr. Woods says her company’s mission statement is to “communicate complex science simply”, with a vision to “marry the science of farming, food and health”.
The business aims to translate science into simple messages and stories in both business to business and business to consumer relationships.
Dr. Woods’ company operates on a local, national and international level. It was established around three years ago.
Dr. Woods comes from a scientific and consumer engagement background. She has worked as a senior scientist at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) in Northern Ireland and as a lecturer in Queen’s University Belfast.
She has also authored two science-based books called Irish Food, From A-Z and Northern Ireland, Our Food, Our Story, which aim to engage purchasing consumers in the importance of soil, plant, animal, dental, human and environmental health “as key and interlinked components of the food value chain”.
Dr. Woods noted that her books are used in primary schools as part of education on sustainable farming and food, and are also used to promote food tourism in Ireland and the country’s “sustainable food story” around the world.
Also at the RDS Spring Agriculture and Forestry Awards, the 2022 Teagasc Farm Forestry Award winner was also announced.
This was Co. Cavan farmer Cathal Rudden, who was presented with his award by Teagasc director Prof. Frank O’Mara and Minister of State Pippa Hackett.
Farming 48ha in Stradone, Co. Cavan, Rudden managed a suckler herd and a substantial young forestry enterprise.
In 2014, he decided to plant mainly for economic reasons, identifying forestry as a steady and reliable income stream, providing him with security to plan and manage the rest of his farm enterprise.
Today, half of Ruddan’s farm is planted with a mix of Sitka spruce and oak, which he manages as a long-term economic and environmental investment for him and his family.