New research has been commissioned to look into the declining portion of farmland that is dedicated to tillage and cereal cultivation in Ireland.

Bord Bia has commissioned the research on behalf of Tillage Industry Ireland (TII) with the aim of assisting trade and representative bodies in their activities and future strategy formation for the sector, it confirmed to Agriland.

The food board has appointed an external research partner to carry out the work, the results of which will be delivered towards the end of quarter one in 2022.

It is anticipated that the research will be ongoing for 16 weeks with various representatives of the cereals sector engaging, and consumer research also featuring, according to Bord Bia.

Bord Bia has outlined the aims of the research as follows:

  • To understand the utilisation of native-grown cereal in animal feed, and food and drink products;
  • To explore the growth potential for native-grown grain and cereals;
  • To understand Irish consumer attitudes to provenance of cereal or grain and the potential to extract a price premium;
  • To understand export market attitudes to provenance of cereal or grain and how Irish origin can enhance brand/product performance.

Stabilising tillage industry

Speaking to Agriland, Richard Hackett, secretary of TII said this research follows on from a report prepared for TII in July 2020 by Prof. Michael Wallace.

Known as the ‘Wallace report’, it comprehensively looked at the structure of the tillage sector, trade, supply chain, economic impact and environmental impact.

“As a follow on from the Wallace report, we wanted to find out what do consumers think of Irish grain, and what do processors, who are producing rations, think about Irish grain. 

“The tillage area is diminishing all the time. There was time when we were 40-50% self sufficient in Irish native grain and now we are just 30% self sufficient,” he said.

When asked if that 40-50% target was in sight again, he said that the priority now is to stabilise the industry. 

Tillage area

According to the Wallace report, the area under tillage crops has declined by 15% – or 57,400ha – from 382,700ha over the last decade, and by 42% since 1980.

It is likely that much of this formerly tillage land is now used for milk production, it added.

This is acknowledged by Richard, who said:

“Dairying has been the only show in town for a number of years, and rightly so, in terms of the profitability.

“In terms of leasing, if a block of land comes up, normally they are comprised of nice, big fields, they are in good condition, they have good access. They are ideal for a dairy block.

“And in counties like Wexford and Tipperary, the land is going from tillage to dairy, and this means there is infrastructure going in – water services and roadways – so there is a long-term move to grassland.”

Interestingly, though, despite the decreased area, cereals output has remained relatively stable at around 2.3 million t/annum during 2014-2018, the report stated.

It added:

“The sector has been highly responsive to policy initiatives, doubling oilseed rape production after 2005 and trebling the area sown to pulses since the introduction of the Protein Aid Scheme in 2015.”

Tillage – a role to play

But, with Ireland’s climate and carbon budget commitments very much to the fore, Richard believes that a vibrant tillage industry can play its part in that story.

“We are using about seven million tonnes of concentrated animal feed every year, and we are only producing about two million tonnes of that in Ireland,” he said.

“Carbon emissions from native grain is dramatically lower than imported grain.”

According to the Wallace report, the carbon footprint of tillage – calculated using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change methodology – is about 1.2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent/ha.

This footprint is 14% of the estimated carbon emissions, per hectare, for an ‘average’ dairy system, and about 30% of the emissions, per hectare, for a ‘typical’ beef enterprise.

“At the very least, tillage has a role to play in meeting carbon budget targets,” said Richard.

“We are never going to replace beef farms down in Leitrim, for example, with big tillage farms. But, definitely, it has a role to play. If you have a better carbon figures from Irish grain that goes into beef or dairy, then your whole package of what you are producing has a better story.”

“There is an opportunity there to be investigated,” he said.