AgNav: Supporting Farm Sustainability Series
Using AgNav to drive environmental performance in Cork
Agriland Media Group is delighted to team up with Teagasc, Bord Bia, and ICBF to bring you the 'AgNav: Supporting Farm Sustainability Series'.
Dairy farmer Pat O' Driscoll explains how he is using AgNav on his family dairy farm in Coppeen, Co. Cork, supported by his Teagasc Signpost Climate Adviser, Anthony Dineen.
Farmers can use AgNav to develop farm-specific sustainability action plans to reduce on-farm emissions and improve water quality.
Pat is milking 120 Holstein Friesian cows with the help of his wife and children, whom he said are "all great to put their shoulder to the wheel".
The herd are producing over 600kg of milk solids/cow/year, with grazed grass being the main driver for this production.
Pat puts the top 80% of his cows to Friesian artificial insemination and the rest of the herd are put to beef straws, either Aberdeen Angus or Hereford.
Pat was first introduced to AgNav at a Dairygold meeting in November last year and later had one-to-one AgNav training with a Teagasc adviser as part of his participation in the Dairygold Grassroots Sustainability Programme.
He said: "I was very impressed with the information that the Teagasc man [Anthony Dineen] had for me".
Pat added that Anthony, his Teagasc Signpost Climate Adviser, "knew what was being sold out of the farm yard gate, he knew all the inputs and came up with this (nutrient balance) figure".
"The fact that we have this AgNav behind (us) and all of that, all those things are in your head every morning when going out to work, it is the new way forward."
Edel McEvoy is an Agri-Sustainability Specialist with Bord Bia, and works with processors on integrating AgNav into their sustainability programmes.
Edel highlighted the simplicity of the platform, which allows farmers to log in and see their nutrient balance for phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as their ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Edel, the nutrient balance figure shows whether the farm is using nutrients efficiently or if there may be a risk of nutrient loss to water.
Teagasc Signpost Climate Adviser, Anthony Dineen, who is based in west Co. Cork, said: "I help farmers to select and implement actions on their own farms to improve profitability, but also sustainability on farm".
Anthony uses AgNav as a decision support tool to show farmers what actions they can take to reduce emissions and improve water quality.
Anthony highlighted that farmers can use AgNav to calculate the impact on their emissions by reducing fertiliser usage, getting slurry out in the springtime, using low emission slurry spreading, and increasing herd Economic Breeding Index (EBI).
The Teagasc Signpost Climate Adviser noted that: "Farmers can play around with it [AgNav] and see what actions they can do to reduce down greenhouse gases".