UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Monday, 5 September 2016 at 5.30 pm
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR JIMMY BURKE, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science on 5 September 2016, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa on HARRY W. KEHOE.
President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
The award by UCD of the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa to Harry Kehoe today is a fitting tribute to the outstanding role he has played in plant genetics and plant breeding in Ireland. During his career Harry has developed many new potato varieties for the Irish market and indeed the impact of his work reverberates far beyond these shores.
This year we celebrate 178 years of agricultural education and research at this University and many of our graduates including Harry have played a major role in developing the agriculture and food industry in this country and abroad. Our links to the potato crop go back a long way, for example, in 1890 this University began experiments investigating and testing new potato varieties and new growing methods and this work received particular attention in the aftermath of the great famine. In 1890 Thomas Carroll produced a report on the use of Copper Sulphate as a means of preventing the devastating potato blight disease known as Phytophtora Infestans. This is just one example of the growing amount of research that was undertaken at UCD as the turn of the century approached.
The development of Ireland’s Agriculture and Food industry is probably the classic example of how well educated graduates like Harry Kehoe can develop usable technology that can transform an industry and bring real benefits to the agri food industry, and the wider economy. In Ireland, today’s tillage farmers have regularly the top yields of crops in the world. This phenomenon is the result of high scientific endeavour, the fine-tuning of technologies to Ireland’s unique climate and the combined efforts of many of our graduates who have gone on to become respected scientists, advisers, and industry practitioners and who disseminated the newly developed technologies to a group of highly professional tillage growers.
Born in Rathvilly, Co Carlow, Harry Kehoe studied for his B.Agr.Sc, degree at University College Dublin qualifying in 1958. After qualification, he joined An Foras Talúntais, based at the Oak Park Research Centre, County Carlow, now known as Teagasc, and was given the task of beginning a new plant breeding programme focussing on potatoes. Driven by his commitment and enthusiasm, Harry Kehoe went on to lead a team and developed one of the most successful potato breeding operations in Europe. During his career he produced more than 35 potato varieties, many of which were outstandingly successful at home and abroad. In more recent years he bred the variety Rooster which now accounts for 70% of all potatoes grown in Ireland and are also used in the United Kingdom, Scotland and elsewhere around the World.
Harry’s endeavours have also had an impact in Africa, for example, during the famine in Ethiopia, Irish NGO’s sent a shipment of seed potatoes of the variety Cara bred and chosen by Harry Kehoe and which proved to be an outstanding success in a land stalked by starvation. Amazing results were achieved when fields of the variety Cara produced 10 times more food compared to previous cropping systems.
Today, as you our new graduates go out into the World limited only by your imagination and ambition you too like Harry can achieve great things. It is important to remember that the amount of food needed to feed a growing world population over the next 40 years will equal the amount produced over the last 10,000 years. Meeting the needs of an additional 75 million people a year, is a daunting challenge for farmers and the food industry globally. In this regard, the use of crop breeding will be very important in meeting this additional food demand in a sustainable way.
In summary, plant breeding has permeated Harry’s life and many in Ireland and abroad have benefitted from his knowledge and expertise. Harry’s achievements show that if you strive for new knowledge, adopt good scientific methods, stick to your goals, remain focused and convinced of your ambition, that you can deliver new knowledge that has impact.
UCD is proud to count him among its alumnae and we substantiate that esteem by honouring him today.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus Scientiae; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.