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When people think of growing up in Dublin, they automatically imagine a built-up area inside the Pale. Owen Keogh, however, is from a rural, farming background; having grown up in Tribadden, which is located in the Dublin Mountains.
“We have a small sheep farm in the Dublin mountains, with some forestry as well,” he explains. “The farm is split - probably 50:50 - between forestry and grazing.”
Having always been heavily involved in the farm, there are no surprises that Owen developed a keen interest in the food industry as a whole.
Owen has taken a more active role on the farm over the last number of years.
A natural progression
When Owen went to college, the Food and Agribusiness Management course at University College Dublin (UCD) was relatively new.
“I knew I had a huge interest in agriculture, but I also had a strong interest in business and the food industry as a whole,” he says. “That''s why I decided that was the course for me. I really liked the mix between business and science, as well.”
After completing his degree, Owen went on to work with Teagasc through the Walsh Fellowship programme, which he felt was a natural progression.
“I knew I wanted to further my education,” he explains. “I wanted to do a master''s and I also wanted to work. The Walsh Fellowship is really good for where you want to gather practical experience in a work environment while also gathering more education.”
Being based in Ballina, North Mayo during his masters, Owen worked with a number of farmers, carrying out research under the topic: ‘Using local radio and podcasts for Agriculture Extension in the West of Ireland’.
“It was the first kind of research and listenership study done on any farming podcast,” he says. “My research was around radio and podcasts and new communication techniques for farmers.”
Gaining industry experience
Having an itch to get involved with the broader agri-food industry and sustainability, Owen decided to undertake the Bord Bia Origin Green Ambassador programme.
“The Bord Bia programmes and Origin Green were becoming more of a focus in terms of what Teagasc was delivering, at the time, with farmers - particularly in that part of the country,” he says.
Through this programme,Owen was sent over to the UK to work with international food companies like Mars,McDonalds and Sainsburys. He gained great insights into what these companies were doing for sustainability strategy and sourcing.
Staying in the UK for nearly five years, Owen spent two years completing his master’s; working with Bord Bia and the remaining time with Sainsbury''s directly as part of their sustainability team.
“I suppose working with them, and that industry experience I got through the Origin Green programme, really expanded my experience and knowledge on international sustainability programmes,” he says.
Returning to Ireland
With the home farm calling, Owen decided to make the move back to Ireland and get involved in the Irish retail sector through Musgrave, which he says seemed like a logical step.
Going straight into the role as head of sustainability at Musgrave Group, his main responsibilities are leading out the sustainability strategy across environment, sourcing and the community.
“It''s trying to develop and instill a culture of sustainability across the organisation,” he explains. “It''s about working with colleagues to provide knowledge and upskilling around sustainability, generally.
This involves driving investments and business goals toward sustainable options.
“Whether that''s alternative fuels or different types of packaging, or working with suppliers and our retailers.”
He continues, “Then,it''s about collaborating within the organisation, but also outside the organisation as well. So, working with the industry, working with governments and working with our supply partners.”
As a huge amount of SuperValu and Centra stores are independently operated, this has resulted in a lot of collaboration with retailers.
Becoming net zero
With the ambition set by Musgrave to be net zero by 2040, there has been a huge amount of change in the past with more to come down the track.
“Fleet fuel is really important for us; we have a lot of heavy goods and vehicles. So, while electric, articulated, lorries and hydrogen are down the track, we want to start tackling our emissions now,” he says.
Musgrave Group have sourced one million litres of HVO hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel for this year. Owen explains, “That will be about 50% of our fuel by 2030. To give you an idea per litre compared to diesel, it has 90% fewer emissions associated with it.”
Another implementation to improving sustainability at Musgraves is working with the independent retailers on energy efficiency programmes.
“We''ve launched a €25million fund to work with our retailers, for them to invest in things like LED lighting, energy efficiency programmes, upgraded refrigeration with natural refrigerants, and solar panelling on the roofs,” Owen highlights.
Plastic packaging
Musgrave Group’s primary objective is that they are going to make 100% of the packaging across all store’s recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
“To give you context, for SuperValu and Centra - through really hard work over the last number of years - we''re now at a level where 96% of the packaging is recyclable, reusable and compostable,” Owen explains.
They also have a target of reducing unnecessary plastic across stores and increasing the recycled content of their products.
Challenges to sustainability
Climate change is obviously the biggest challenge in Owen''s line of work.
“If I think about the agri-food retail industry as a whole, we''ve been kind of tackling our own operations. We''ve had a huge amount of investment, but we have an awful lot of work to do within the agri-food sector as a whole in reducing emissions,” he admits.
As a farmer himself, the way Owen looks at it is: “I think farmers always get a bad reputation for this, but that is absolutely not the case. Farmers are vital to addressing the climate change agenda, the climate crisis.
“I know all too well that farmers are extremely resilient, innovative, entrepreneurial people,” he adds.
“If you think about the sort of things that have happened over the last 10 years, in terms of innovation in the agri sector, we''re making strides as well with different industry partners.
“I think there''s a challenge there, but you could flip it into a huge opportunity with farmers and producers at the centre of that opportunity.”
Get industry experience
For students looking to get into the agri-food sector, Owen has the following advice,
“Take a look at some of the fantastic courses that are out there from a sustainability perspective now, there are really specific ones in most of the universities. I''d say what I found really beneficial was getting industry experience, while also studying.”
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