Dairy sustainability was top of the agenda today (Tuesday, July 4) at the Teagasc National Dairy Event at Moorepark in Fermoy, Co. Cork.
The Irish dairy industry has undergone a transformational change in the last eight years since the removal of milk quotas in 2015.
Attendees at today’s Moorepark Open Day heard that the next phase of development will have to be based on the principle of decoupling greenhouse gas (GHG) and nitrate emissions and nitrogen loss from production, while advancing the quality and quantity of enriched areas on-farm.
Ireland’s largely grass-based systems of milk production has resulted in a low-cost production system that has delivered a comparative advantage for the Irish dairy industry within a seasonal profile of milk deliveries.
The benefits of the system have been further enhanced through the development of the economic breeding index (EBI), which has focused on selecting a dairy cow with suitable attributes for the system.
Since the Irish dairy industry put preparations in place for the removal of the milk quota in the 2007-2009 period, milk solids output has increased by over 96%.
This increased output has been achieved through increased cow numbers; milk yield/cow; fat and protein percentages; grass growth; stocking rate; and additional land entering the dairy industry.
Challenges
However, looking ahead, there are new challenges that the dairy industry has to address as it matures in the current, and future, economic and policy environment.
Recent geo-political events have exposed the need for increased feed, fertiliser and energy security.
Systems of milk production that rely less on purchased feed, fertiliser and energy are more resilient.
Additionally, environmental pressures (greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and biodiversity) require the industry to have a cohesive plan to maintain profitability while addressing these challenges.
Widespread and immediate deployment of the currently available solutions at farm level is necessary, coupled with further investment in research to develop new solutions in the medium to long-term, providing options for the industry to meet its overall commitments.
One other central challenge is the availability of skilled and motivated people to work and lead within the industry.
In addition, greater integration between the beef and dairy industries will benefit both sectors.
The generation of healthier dairy-beef progeny with better genetic merit for beef traits and reduced age at slaughter will be an essential requirement to develop profitable, simple and sustainable grass-based dairy-beef systems.
In order to evaluate the overall performance of the dairy industry, it is important to look
at its overall sustainability.
There are three sustainability pillars that must be included in any system evaluation:
- Economic;
- Social;
- Environmental.
Economic sustainability deals with the financial performance of the business including debt levels, profitability and cost of production.
The social element deals with both animal and people-related topics.
Finally, and equally as important, the environmental impact and use of resources must be considered for the farm (greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient use efficiency, biodiversity).
Policy challenges
There are a number of changes in policy that will impact on dairy farms in the coming years, the first of these being banding, which was introduced earlier this year.
This changed the organic excretion rates based on milk yields, with three bands in place:
- Band one: 80kg nitrogen (N)/cow for cows producing less than 4,500kg of milk/cow/year;
- Band two: 92kg N/cow for cows producing between 4,501 to 6,500kg of milk/cow/year;
- Band three: 106kg N/cow for cows producing more than 6,501kg milk/cow/year.
There is also the likely change to the derogation which will see the maximum stocking rate reduced from 250kg of organic N/ha to 220kg/ha.
This, according to Teagasc, could reduce farm profitability by 29% in the most extreme scenarios.
The proposed Nature Restoration Law will set legal and binding targets for EU member states and these targets could be transposed into law by late 2023/early 2024.
This law could potentially pose a major challenge to dairy sector because of the emphasis it places on restoring and rewetting drained organic peatlands.
Teagasc has highlighted that considerable research will be needed to accurately determine the area of drained peats currently in existence before rewetting plans can be put in place.
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 set a ‘national climate objective’ to achieve a climate neutral economy no later than 2050.
A total reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 51% over the period to 2030, with the agricultural sector’s target to reduce emissions by 25% by 2030.
This poses a significant challenge for Irish agriculture, as figures show that methane is the largest GHG emitted from current livestock production systems.