BY JOHN CROWLEY

IRELAND has a national climate action plan whereby greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 51% below the 2018 emissions by 2030. Each sector of the economy has their own reduction targets to achieve, and the target set for agriculture is a 25% reduction.

In response to the Climate Action plan, Teagasc set up their Signpost Advisory Programme. The aim of the programme is to help farmers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time maintaining or improving profitability on their farms. Teagasc have an action plan called the ‘12 steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on your farm’, and many of these steps are existing advisory recommendations which also reduce gaseous emissions.

Each enterprise has their own 12 steps tailored to each requirement. With regards to dairying, the12 steps are: use protected urea, apply lime, build or maintain soil fertility, use 100% low emission slurry spreading, reduce chemical nitrogen by 10Kg/ha, better grassland management, improve animal health, improve dairy herd quality, increase milk solids per cow, reduce age at first calving, finish cattle earlier, and incorporate clover.

Within Signpost there is a also programme called AgNav which was established in conjunction with Bord Bia and ICBF. It takes the data collected by the Bord Bia survey and the cattle numbers and stocking rate from the ICBF database, and shows the current level of greenhouse gas emissions on the farm, and how much a reduction can be achieved if a number of the twelve steps were adapted.

Dairy farmer Kerry Desmond recently completed the AgNav with local advisor John Crowley. Kerry, who originally hails from Bandon, farms on the Gurteen Farm; he has been involved in a share-farming arrangement since early 2024 with Shinagh Estates, owner of the farm.

Prior to entering a share-farm arrangement, Kerry was managing a dairy farm for four years. The farm at Gurteen has 34 hectares and he is currently milking 96 cows. The share-farm model is set up as follows: Shinagh estates supply the land and buildings, and Kerry is supplying the stock which he bought in late 2023. Profits of the farm are divided 60% to Kerry and 40% to Shinagh Estates.

Reseeding, as well as all buildings and land maintenance costs are borne by Shinagh Estates with costs such as veterinary, animal health and breeding covered by Kerry. The costs for fertiliser, ration and silage-making are split 60% to Kerry and 40% to Shinagh Estates. When Kerry’s 2024 AgNav report was examined, a number of interesting points were highlighted. Some 90% of Kerry’s chemical nitrogen was spread as protected urea while the balance was spread as compounds and other chemical nitrogen sources. Kerry plans to maintain the percentage of protected urea spread. Switching from 100% CAN to 100% protected urea not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions by between 5 to 8%, but also nitrogen from protected urea is cheaper than nitrogen from CAN. Soil fertility is good on this farm, with 58% having achieved target P (Phosphorus) and K (Potassium) index of 3 and soil pH greater than 6.2, but 42% of the farm is deficient in one of the three targets. To correct his P and K levels he will use 18.6.12 as the P and K are better value for money, and produce less greenhouse gas emissions compared to using other compounds.

Kerry spreads all his slurry using low emissions technologies, again which reduces emissions greatly compared to using a splash plate and thus supplying more nutrients to the grass.

Kerry is in the top 10% in the country for his EBI and his carbon footprint for his milk solids are in the top 10% as well.

The national average for carbon footprint is 1 Kg CO2 per kg of milk solids, whereas the footprint for Kerry is 0.73 Kg CO2 per Kg of milk solids.

John Crowley is a signpost climate advisor based in the advisory office in Clonakilty Agricultural College.