He travelled to Uganda and Kenya in June 2017 to examine how infrastructure and digital technologies can help local farmers to connect with buyers, access credit and financial transactions, and transport produce to consumption centres. Thomas’s feature examining what it will take to turn local subsistence farmers into commercial ones was published by the Irish Farmers Journal in June 2017. The piece also explores the benefits of such a move to the farmers, and to the wider economy, as well as looking at the risks involved.