Well-Being in Georgia and Ireland

When Amy Potter, Ph.D., attended a panel discussion in Ireland about environmental changes in the summer of 2023, she didn’t expect to be inspired to create a cross-disciplinary learning experience for students in Georgia Southern University’s Honors College.

The geography professor had already been guiding her students through the history of Irish farming and agriculture at the University’s Learning Center in Wexford, Ireland. But it was the passion of one Irish farmer, Jer O’Mahony, who spoke on a panel about the challenges facing farmers, specifically those who operate family-owned farms, that truly resonated with her.

“That summer, two days after we met him at the panel, he came and gave a talk to our students in Ireland,” she said. “What was so interesting about his presentation was that it touched on mental health, geography and biology — all these different groups that were in the room. He engaged everyone in the room.”

When Potter took on the leadership of the Honors Global Scholars program in 2024, she knew she wanted sustainability and agriculture to be central themes. Established in 2023, the program is a cohort-based learning experience for first-year students from various academic disciplines. The cohort studies together throughout the year and culminates with a six-week trip to the Georgia Southern University Learning Center in Wexford, Ireland. The coursework is taught by faculty from across the University, including Potter and Howard Keeley, Ph.D., director of Georgia Southern’s Center for Irish Research and Teaching.

“My class reads a journal article called ‘The Precarity of the Irish Family Farm,’ which explores the different factors impacting the sustainability of the Irish farm,” Potter said. “When we talk about the Irish family farm, we can’t just talk about the farm itself — we have to talk about the grocery stores, the middlemen in terms of food distribution. There are so many layers of who’s making the money versus the family farm.”

Part of this curriculum has included visiting farmers in Bulloch and surrounding Georgia counties, as well as in County Wexford, which gives students firsthand insight into the people at the origin of food production — and the challenges they face in both local and global contexts.

During their six-week trip to Ireland last year, the 2024-25 cohort of 24 students conducted and presented survey-based analyses to a high-level visiting delegation that included Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns and his wife Dayle Burns, operators of a fifth-generation family farm from Effingham County, and Cynthia Ni Mhurchú, an Irish member of the European Parliament. The students’ work even caught the attention of Irish media, earning them a feature interview on South East Radio.

In late March 2026, the newest cohort of Global Honors Scholars traveled to Ireland to build on previous cohorts’ research and provide invaluable insights into the lives and futures of rural, family-owned farms in Georgia and Ireland.

“We really took a micro approach this year to studying real and specific people who live and breathe farming in rural Georgia,” Potter said. “Years ago, I built a relationship with an Irish farmer, Jer O’Mahony, when attending a panel about challenges that Irish farmers face. Part of his take included the future of operations on family-owned farms. It truly resonated with me. Every year, our research becomes more refined and intentional.”

Propagating New Perspectives

Honors College Global Scholar and 2024-25 cohort member Ellie Brown recalls not giving much thought to where her food comes from before coming to Georgia Southern.

“I knew absolutely nothing about agriculture, and even less about sustainability,” the Buford, Georgia, native said. “I really was naive to the fact that agriculture plays such a big part in society today, but through the program, I’ve taken a hands-on approach to what we’ve learned.”

Brown’s cohort visited the Brooklet-based family farm Hunter Cattle Company and the Metter-based Better Fresh Farms, which utilizes space in Georgia Southern’s Business Innovation Group’s Metter Business Incubator and the Georgia Grown Innovation Center. Brown said the farm visits have opened her eyes to the world of farming in a way she didn’t expect.

“It’s completely changed the way I’ve thought about food and what I put in my body,” Brown said. “It’s changed the way I view how people care about their food and how farmers and people who work in agriculture do their work.”

Students also visited Brannen Family Farms in January after receiving an invitation from Ryne Brannen, one of the four current owners of his family’s farming legacy. His brothers, Jamie and Sean, currently run operations alongside their father, Jack Brannen, Jr. (Jackie), in Bulloch County. Brannen Family Farms has been a staple of South Georgia since Jackie’s father, Rufus, began growing row and vegetable crops during the Great Depression and World War II.

Another visit to a small, family-owned farm a few counties away impacted students like Isabella Frazier, who enjoyed participating in meaningful, community-centered research.

“We recently spent time on a Tattnall County farm owned by longtime resident Willie Scott to learn firsthand from a local farmer about the challenges and obstacles he faces locally,” Frazier explained. “We took a qualitative approach to better understand the different stressors farmers face. Despite financial and economic instability, we found that many farmers rely on their faith in preserving their legacy, which motivates people like Scott to honor his family’s achievements in agriculture.”

While her experience in Tattnall County deepened her appreciation for rural farms in South Georgia, it was traveling to Ireland and visiting with Irish farmers that fulfilled a dream Frazier has had since childhood.

“The first time I traveled, I went to Paris with Fancy Nancy and to New York with Percy Jackson. It wasn’t until I got my passport in high school that I got the chance to visit Costa Rica, but it opened my world up,” Frazier said. “Georgia Southern allowed me to continue to expand my horizons and learn about a culture that is new to me.”

Weston Calhoun focused on agricultural sustainability during his freshman year in the 2023-24 cohort.

“There was no better learning experience for me than actually doing experiential learning with a group of professors who were dedicated to teaching us about the same thing with a group of students who are all on the same page,” Calhoun said. “It really formed my freshman year and has been the highlight of my educational experience.”

Focusing on family farms means serving the communities in which Georgia Southern’s campuses are located with a focus on coastal sustainability and resilience, an area of focus for the University’s research efforts.

“Historically, the family farm has mattered deeply in both Ireland and Coastal Georgia,” Keeley said. “The average size of a family farm in Ireland is around 70 to 80 acres. One question we’re asking is whether that model remains sustainable today. If society believes the family farm is still integral to identity and community, then we have to think seriously about what it will take to sustain it. The data our students collect help the wider public understand how family farmers are faring, and what land, stewardship and generational legacy mean to them.”

Enriching Farmers’ Lives

A primary focus for students and faculty throughout the last few years has been surveying Irish farmers. Led by Potter, the survey asked farmers to report on their mental health and the challenges they face.

“It’s not uncommon to hear of farmers taking their lives, so we wanted to get an understanding of what’s happening on that front,” Potter said. “We also asked questions about how farmers feel about organizations like the European Union (EU).”

Early themes emerging from the survey indicate Irish farmers are skeptical of EU policy in promoting sustainable agricultural practices. In addressing mental health concerns, Potter said preliminary data indicate stress factors include extreme weather conditions, environmental challenges, heavy workload and long hours.

“The survey we’ve created captures hard economic data, but what is distinctive is that it also seeks out the social and emotional dimensions of farming. It allows farmers to be heard and seen as people whose lives are shaped by family history, attachment to place, and the responsibility of carrying a farm forward,” Keeley said.

Natassia Mason, an Honors student who traveled to Wexford in May 2025, was tasked with exploring and building upon the research and survey results from the previous cohort.  

“Our cohort dove into the environmental, economic and political pressures that are put on Irish farmers,” Mason said. “Despite none of us hailing from an agricultural-based discipline, we began discovering the connections, trends and patterns among family-owned farms in Irish and American communities.”

Beyond the meaningful research, it was the students’ approach and interactions that left a lasting impact.

“Their ability to do this research and have constructive, respectful and gentle conversations on both sides of the Atlantic with our community partners reflects the kind of service leadership Georgia Southern represents,” Keeley said. “We don’t barge into communities demanding answers. We listen, we learn and we proceed with purpose, based on understanding.”

For Mason, the opportunity to visit Wexford and engage in research was a pivotal motivator for her as an undergraduate student.

“Undergraduate research opportunities are rare, and the program is much greater than a photo opportunity and a vacation,” Mason explained. “For about a year before we travel to Ireland, we work on gaining an understanding and contextualizing the unique, dynamic culture that has built the country.”

Sustaining the Future of Agriculture; Cultivating Community

Agricultural sustainability goes beyond environmentally friendly practices. It’s also about keeping farms in business, supporting farming communities, and preserving farms for future generations. While in Ireland, Calhoun learned that most Irish farms are family-owned, but there are fewer family members to pass the farm on to.

“In a survey of Irish farmers, 51% said they didn’t know if they had someone to take over when they passed away,” Calhoun said, noting a vast majority of farmers are aged 60 and older.

Visiting Irish family farms helped Calhoun understand the importance of generational farming.

“Right when we got there, lambs were being born one after another,” he said. “We were able to see how even the youngest members of the family — these 5- and 6-year-old kids — are helping out on the family farm, which is a really common thing in Ireland.”

More recently, students have looked past generational farming to explore the concept of “Bachelor Farms,” which are farms where there is no next of kin to take over the family farming legacy. By building interpersonal relationships with agriculturists in Georgia, students began to see similarities with family-owned farms in Ireland.

“The legacy of family farms is integral to both rural Georgia and Ireland,” Keeley stated. “Agriculture is still the biggest industry in the Irish economy, and a major part of Georgia’s economic landscape. We will continue to explore sustainable options as the world continues to change and reinvent itself.”

“Another important part of this research is building an international network between coastal places in Ireland and Georgia,” Keeley said, noting that the work spans three of Georgia Southern’s seven research-impact areas: Coastal Sustainability and Resilience; Vibrant Communities; and Integrated Community Health.

“At the most fundamental level, we’re bringing together the best practices from Ireland and Georgia by working with farmers who are our core constituency, but also by incorporating our experts in our Institute for Water and Health and Institute for Health Logistics and Analytics,” Keeley said.

In Ireland, the program is working with the Irish Environmental Protection Agency and Teagasc, Ireland’s national agricultural research agency, both of which are headquartered in County Wexford and close to Georgia Southern’s Learning Center there, Keeley noted. Potter believes Georgia Southern’s students’ contributions to Irish communities have been important to farmers there.

“I think the most rewarding thing is seeing that we have formed these very close relationships with Irish farmers; they are close to our students, they’re close to our faculty,” she said. “To have young people take an interest and care about what they’re doing, I think that’s also been very meaningful to them. It’s really a beautiful partnership that’s formed across the Atlantic.”

As for the future of the program, both Potter and Keeley look forward to expanding the University’s contribution to real-world outcomes internationally so that students have the opportunity to explore, learn and invest their energy into driving change throughout the communities they are a part of.

“‘People, purpose and action,’” Keeley said. “That phrase captures the heart of the work. We have a purpose: to serve the communities where Georgia Southern is rooted. And we act on that purpose by strengthening regional economies and supporting the quality of life and well-being of farm families working across generations. Our greatest resource in that enterprise is our students.”