I am from Kinawley, Co. Fermanagh and from a young age I had a keen interest in agriculture and working on the family beef and sheep farm. This gave me early exposure to the ups and downs of farming and the challenges local farmers face. I am married to Yvonne, have two grown up children and farm suckler cows and sheep on a part-time basis.
Having left school, I completed a Higher National Diploma in Agriculture at Greenmount college and gained experience on my year out working on dairy, beef and sheep farms and in the agricultural feed industry. I then progressed to Queens University where I completed a BAgr degree in General Agriculture.
Living in Lurgan I began my agricultural career working as a field officer with the Livestock and Meat Commission at the height of the BSE crisis where I was involved in various Rural Payments Agency schemes such as Intervention beef buying and the Over Thirty Months scheme. I worked in many different locations as a representative of the Rural Payments Agency including abattoirs, rendering plants, livestock markets, meat and bone meal stores etc.
In 2003 I moved to DAERA where I have had several roles from an Animal Health and Welfare Inspector to an Agricultural Economist dealing with Farm Surveys and assessing Business cases involving expenditure by DAERA.
In 2012 I moved to CAFRE where I was a beef and sheep business technologist and later the CAFRE farms information officer.
In 2015 I moved back ‘home’ to Kinawley and took on the role of a CAFRE Dairy Development Adviser, where I worked closely with farmers in group and individual settings to assist them in developing their farm businesses both physically and financially, with the aim of creating sustainable and resilient farm businesses. I loved working with the farmers at a practical level and got satisfaction in being able to help them to address challenges and progress their businesses.
In 2024 I moved into a role where I was involved in writing business cases for expenditure within CAFRE and worked on business cases for the Supporting Agri-professional scheme and the Innovation schemes (Innovation Farms, Innovation Visits and Innovation Partnerships).
I yearned to get back to working more closely with and helping farmers, hence my reason for joining the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) as a technical officer in January. I am really enjoying being more involved with farmers again and helping to deal with the very varied, weird, and wonderful problems that farmers can have. I appreciate working for an established and well-respected organisation as the UFU and hope that I can continue to help and support UFU members to maintain successful and sustainable farm businesses well into the future.
