Agriculture and Food Development Authority
Delivering a Scalable, Secure WordPress Platform to Support Research, Advisory, and Education Services
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Background
Teagasc is Ireland’s national authority for agricultural research, advisory, and training. With over 1,300 staff, 3,500 students, and operations across 50+ locations, it plays a critical role in supporting innovation and knowledge transfer across the agriculture and food sector. Teagasc serves multiple audiences — from researchers and policymakers to farmers, students, and rural development partners.
The existing Teagasc website had grown increasingly difficult to manage, with fragmented content workflows, limited permission controls, and legacy infrastructure no longer aligned with the organisation’s operational needs. Teagasc commissioned 6B to design and implement a fully bespoke WordPress platform — focused on performance, security, editorial efficiency, and long-term scalability.
The Need
Teagasc required a future-ready CMS to replace its existing PHP-based system. The new platform needed to reflect the authority and scale of the organisation while supporting a large, decentralised editorial team with varying levels of access. Key requirements included:
- A modern, cloud-hosted WordPress CMS supporting granular user permissions and multi-role access
- Full migration of content, metadata, documents, media, and Teagasc Daily archives
- Integration with Microsoft Entra ID for SSO authentication
- Structured workflows for three defined roles — Admin, Moderator, and Contributor
- A modular, reusable content system supporting updates across distributed teams
- Strong governance controls, accessibility compliance, and future integration readiness
The solution had to deliver significant internal efficiencies while preserving Teagasc’s reputation as a trusted national body.
The Solution
6B delivered a secure, cloud-hosted WordPress platform for Teagasc, engineered to meet enterprise content needs and public sector governance requirements. The CMS was configured to support SSO authentication via Microsoft Entra ID and included role-based access aligned to the Admin, Moderator, and Contributor model defined by Teagasc.
We used custom post types and ACF-powered content blocks to model complex and reusable content — from research publications and event listings to training materials, videos, and Teagasc Daily articles. Special attention was given to unifying template functionality across all content types, ensuring that Teagasc Daily now behaves identically to other content areas and can be embedded or linked seamlessly from within the CMS.
Content migration was carried out using a hybrid automated/manual approach — preserving metadata, media, URLs, and internal links, with full QA to ensure data integrity across thousands of assets. Hosting was provisioned in a secure, scalable cloud environment with detailed documentation and performance monitoring tools.
The editorial experience was tailored for non-technical users, with a clear publishing workflow, approval stages, and modular layout tools. Admins retained full control over site structure, design components, and user management — ensuring that each team operates within clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
The Impact
Teagasc now operates a modern, secure CMS platform that supports the full scope of its research, advisory, and education activity. Staff across departments and regions can create and publish content with confidence, while role-based workflows ensure high editorial standards and compliance with data governance policies.
The integration of Teagasc Daily into the standard CMS architecture has improved consistency and visibility across news and insights. Internal publishing is faster, better governed, and fully traceable — reducing overhead and increasing agility across departments.
With scalable infrastructure, full SSO integration, and structured content governance in place, Teagasc is now well-positioned to expand its digital services and maintain its leadership in agriculture and food development across Ireland.