Teagasc has released its latest sustainability report focusing on the year 2021.
The report uses the Teagasc National Farm Survey to track the performance of dairy, cattle, sheep and tillage farms across Ireland to understand changes in their economic, environmental and social sustainability.
In addition to data for 2021, the report also includes data covering much of the last decade, to show the changes that have occurred over the period.
Sustainability report – economics
In terms of economic sustainability, the report states that “consistent with the established trend of earlier years, dairy farms remain an economic powerhouse in Irish agriculture”.
Average economic returns per hectare in dairy tend to be multiples of those in the other farm systems in Ireland and the gap between dairy and the other farm systems is widening, according to the research.
The report continues: “When allowance is made for the amount of labour required in different systems and income is expressed on a per / labour unit basis, on average, dairy and tillage farms can be considered as comparable when adjustment is made for their relative labour input requirements.”
The results show that both of these farm system types considerably outperform the drystock farm systems.
Environmental sustainability
It terms of a measure of sustainability within Irish agriculture, the sustainability report had a number of findings.
The report states that total farm GHG emissions on the average dairy farm increased in 2021, largely due to an increase in the average herd size and increased liming activity.
“However, GHG emissions / ha on dairy farms increased to a lesser degree, as the average dairy farm area also increased. The GHG emissions intensity of milk production (CO2e/kg of fat and protein corrected milk) improved,” the report states.
According to the authors, this effectively means that the average kg of milk on Irish dairy farms was produced with a lower carbon footprint.
However, this improvement in GHG emissions intensity was offset by a higher volume of milk produced on the back of a larger average herd size. As a result, absolute farm level GHG emissions increased on dairy farms in 2021.
In the context of non-dairy systems, farm level and per/ha level GHG emissions on cattle, sheep and tillage farms increased somewhat in 2021 on the back of a higher livestock stocking rates and increased liming activity.
However the authors emphasise that increased liming to adjust soil pH towards its optimum will ultimately improve plant nutrient take-up.
The report continues: “This should be considered as a positive development on the part of farmers as it is a prerequisite for a sustainable transition to lower levels of synthetic fertiliser use.”
Nitrogen (N) surpluses declined and N use efficiency tended to improve in 2021 on dairy and tillage farms, but went in the opposite direction for drystock farms, according to the analysis.
The authors stated: “These metrics tend to be significantly influenced by weather conditions, although improved N management on farms also plays a role.”
Dairy farms adapting
Lead author of the report, Dr. Cathal Buckley, Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme noted said: “We continue to see an increase in dairy output, dairy incomes and dairy greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while we observe smaller changes in the output, incomes and emissions across the other farm types.
“However, there is greater evidence in the report for 2021 that actions to address gaseous emissions are being adopted, particularly by dairy farmers, e.g., on an aggregate basis, 48% of all slurry applied on farms was via Low Emissions Slurry Spreading (LESS) equipment.
“For dairy farms, the comparable figure was 74%. This transition to LESS has helped lower ammonia emissions across all farm systems. However, the uptake of other desirable practices such as transition to protected urea chemical fertilisers remains low,” he added.
Comparing farm performance for recent years, Trevor Donnellan, head of the Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department in Teagasc, and co-author of the report however stated: “From a socio-economic point of view, the improvement in farm incomes in 2021 has meant that a larger share of the farm population can be considered sustainable in an economic context.
“However, the report shows that there was an increase in farm level greenhouse emissions in 2021, it should be noted that much of this was driven by the increased use of lime by farmers in addition to an increase in stocking rates.
“The use of lime is an important step in improving fertiliser use efficiency and lowering farm fertiliser requirements in future years. Given that the report relates to 2021, fertiliser use had yet to fall in response to the dramatic rise in fertiliser prices over the last 12 months,” he explained.
Commenting on the release of the report, Teagasc director, Prof. Frank O’Mara, said: “The Sustainability Report is a vital resource which demonstrates farm performance in an economic, environmental and social context across the various farm systems.
“It is important that the methodology used in the report evolves so that it remains consistent with the internationally recognised approach to the calculation of the various measures that are included.”