From scholar to leader

Earlier in the summer, Nuffield Ireland hosted the Nuffield International Triennial 2026, an all-island tour, with visits to more than 30 farms, industry organisations, and cultural venues. It was a great success, but the logistics associated with its organisatoin were quite considerable, Gráinne explains. “We had 130 international scholars travelling around Ireland for nine days in June. We had three tours a day showcasing the best of Irish farming and agri-businesses.” Gráinne acknowledged the cooperation of everyone who supported the various events and farm walks, all of which culminated in the Nuffield International Triennial 2026 Agri-Summit at Killashee House Hotel. Here, delegates heard from national and international speakers including former EU commissioner, Phil Hogan, former minister, Simon Coveney and various European economists, policymakers and academics including Dr Rogier Schulte, of Wageningen University. It was the ultimate nine-day showcase of Irish agriculture for Irish and global Nuffield scholars. “It was two years in the planning. Identifying and coordinating a selection of national and international speakers was quite a challenge, as well as securing farms and businesses to visit around the country. There are now one hundred and twenty-seven Irish Nuffield scholars inducted since the scholarship was adopted in Ireland, with many of them very involved in ensuring that the Triennial was a success. They saw the magnitude of the event and took pride in the fact that we, as a relatively small Nuffield location, were hosting such an event.”

Nuffield Scholarship

The international nature of the triennial speaks to the impact of the Nuffield scholarship programme, which provides those undertaking it with a range of valuable travel and networking opportunities. Gráinne outlines the scholarship’s mechanics and purpose. “A scholarship is a two-year programme where you undertake 10 weeks of international travel in small groups, as well as some personal travel. There’s a bursary of €18,000 towards the costs involved. You research a topic of interest, and then you’ve two years to investigate and study that topic, compile a report, and deliver a presentation at Nuffield’s annual conference. Many of our scholars also disseminate it across the agri-industry, because the scholars usually choose a timely and relevant topic that’s important to the industry. We’re looking for individuals with a little bit of life experience. They should have a thirst for knowledge, an enquiring mind, and show leadership potential within the industry.”
In return, the scholarship exposes participants to international perspectives and expertise on wide-ranging aspects of agriculture. Gráinne continues: “You could be learning about rice, maize, or GMOs. You are studying any one or a mix of those wider subjects that ultimately give you an informed mind. Jim McCarthy and the late Padraig Walshe were the first Irish Nuffield scholars and both have contributed hugely to Irish agriculture. Both were men and farmers and that was the general profile at the time.”
Gráinne, as mentioned, was the first Irish female scholar. She explains the emphasis now on gender balance in the programme: “Comparing statistics across the Nuffield countries, our female representation is only 25 per cent, while the rest of the Nuffield world is at 50 per cent, so we are encouraging more women to get involved. We’d also like to encourage those involved in production, across dairy, beef, sheep, aquaculture, horticulture. You don’t have to be a farmer, obviously, and looking at the profile of individual scholars, they’re right across the agri-industry, research, advisory, support, service industries. We do see an opportunity for more farmers to learn about international agriculture and bring that back to their colleagues. A successful Nuffield scholarship is about disseminating information that you have researched and no better way to do that than peer-to-peer. Farmers are very good at that in discussion groups and generally talking to other farmers. You would hope then that the wider industry would gain from that experience.”

Gráinne’s agenda

With the triennial programme completed, it’s back to basics for the Nuffield chair, but she is no less busy: “Our [scholarship] applications are open until the end of August, with details on the Nuffield Ireland website. Autumn will be busy, inducting our new scholars and helping them understand what is expected of them. Then we will have our annual conference on November 6 in the Hodson Bay, where the 2024 scholars will deliver their reports.
“Longer term, I would like us to consider a young Nuffield or a young agriculture leadership programme, maybe aimed at those coming out of university or agricultural college, which would whet their appetite for undertaking a full scholarship in time. I’d like us to do something with the current alumni. We have a critical mass of 127 scholars now, and we need further engagement with them. This is on the back of the Triennial, where scholars whom we haven’t seen for a few years have come back and said they want to get involved.”

Many facets 

Outside of Nuffield, Gráinne is immersed in farm life, farming near Borris-in-Ossory with her husband, Jim and son, Jonathan. She has also had a long career in communications. “Like a lot of women, I came into farming on marriage, but I suppose I was always involved in the industry. I was communications manager with Animal Health Ireland for a long number of years. I’ve always enjoyed working with farmers. I get a great buzz from working in the agri sector because most people have this huge positivity and can-do attitude. A Nuffield scholarship is trying to capture that. If you have that can-do attitude and you see that problems can be solved, definitely you should seriously consider a scholarship because that’s where you will be able to develop that view of life and you will be surrounded by others with similar attitudes. That, in itself, is a very positive experience.
“I know there are problems and challenges and all kinds of restrictions and regulations but, still, over the past 10 years, and specifically in dairy since the elimination of quotas, there has been opportunity. Like most other milk producers, when the quotas ended, we grew our business. That has allowed us to bring our son Jonathan into the enterprise. It has been a huge benefit to us in securing our future and that of our son, Jonathan. Without that growth opportunity, building a succession strategy would have been difficult if not impossible. It’s now Jonathan’s opportunity to further develop the farm and enterprise. I think what younger farmers sometimes forget is that they are facing these challenges too, but they’ve never faced the challenge of milk quotas. Working for most of my life in dairy farming, the biggest challenge for us was milk quotas," says Gráinne..

All about grass

Grass-based milk production has always been and is still core to the Dwyer farming model, Gráinne says: “We graze the cows almost 300 days in the year. It’s the foundation of everything we do here. We calve and dry off our cows based on grass growth at both ends of the season. We try to get as much grass into the cow’s diet as we can. It’s the most efficient way of feeding the cow, given our temperate climate. We have introduced clover into the grass swards now, and we’ll continue to refine our production model based on research and advice. Grassland production is still as important today as it was 35 years ago, and optimising our grass-based milk production continues to be our focus.”