With the contest to find the next chief executive officer of IFA entering its final stages, another shortlisted candidate has withdrawn. The Irish Farmers Journal understands that Professor Gerry Boyle is no longer proceeding with the interview process. The recruitment agency involved has arranged second interviews with a number of candidates on Thursday of next week.

IFA has tentatively planned to select its chosen candidate thereafter and to present his or her name to its executive council at a meeting the following week on Wednesday 16 November.

Boyle is currently director of Teagasc. He is a professor of economics and previously worked in that capacity with NUI Maynooth and University of Missouri in the USA. In other roles, he served as an economist with the Central Bank of Ireland and as economics adviser to former Taoiseach John Bruton in the 1990s.

Earlier this week, another shortlisted candidate for the leadership position in the IFA withdrew. That was James Brady, head of procurement at Rosderra Meats. The names of both individuals were among those linked with the top job in IFA since it became vacant 12 months ago.