Speaking at the end of the annual Nuffield conference in Dublin, O'Keeffe announced that he would not seek to continue in his role at the next annual general meeting of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust Ireland. The AGM is due to take place in the next four to eight weeks and will be tasked with filling the position, which will now be for a straight three years.

The Cork dairy farmer became the fifth chair of Nuffield Ireland in 2012, succeeding Derek McCabe. He obtained a scholarship in 2010 to study how successful farming industries around the world invested in staff development.

O'Keeffe told the Irish Farmers Journal that he was proud to see young farmer of the year winner Kevin Moran and IFA county chairs Aidan Gleeson and Brian Rushe among the returning scholars who presented the results of their research at Friday's conference. "They are in real-life leadership positions," he said.

He also highlighted that one in five scholars chosen under his chairmanship were women, and all recipients are now assigned a former scholar as coach to help them in their research and personal development.

Cavan international conference

Another highlight of O'Keeffe's tenure was to bring the international Nuffield scholar to Ireland last March. The event in Cavan brought together around 80 scholars and speakers ranging from Australian, Brazilian, Dutch or Japanese farmers to Chinese dairy consultants as well as leading economists and technology experts.

O'Keeffe said it was time for change, and he would now focus on work on his own farm and coaching GAA teams at his local St Catherine's club in Cork.

Nuffield Ireland is part of the international Nuffield network and partners with sponsors to award scholarships to up to seven young leaders in the farming industry each year.

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