Over the last number of years, no sector of agriculture has found itself in the firing line quite as much as the global beef industry.

Beef farming has found its sustainability credentials under attack on a number of fronts including its environmental impact, the water footprint of beef production, the food conversion efficiency of beef, as well as the impact of methane emissions from cattle on our planet.

Many climate activists have singled out an end to beef production as one of the quickest ways to reduce carbon emissions, while growth-hungry investors smelling disruption have ploughed billions of dollars into plant-based, or fake meat companies, such as Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat.

For Ireland, the anti-beef sentiment that is being pushed on consumers by climate activists and influencers is a major threat.

Not only is beef farming a core part of the social fabric of this country but it is also the backbone of Ireland’s rural economy.

The anti-beef sentiment that is being pushed on consumers by climate activists and influencers is a major threat

Ireland’s beef sector contributes about €3bn to the Irish economy every year, provides 30,000 jobs directly to the economy and supports 100,000 farming families. For 2019, Irish beef exports stood at €2.25bn with 560,000t of beef shipped to world markets.

Ireland has a lot to lose if its beef industry is simply allowed to fall by the wayside. Yet, the industry is fighting back with new science on the nutritional superiority of meat protein to plant-based alternatives and the overall health benefits of meat consumption.

Sustainability

From an environmental and climate sustainability perspective, Ireland’s low-intensity grass-based production gives our beef sector a lot of important differentiators to beef production in other parts of the world. It may be traded as a commodity but it’s obvious that not all beef is produced equal.

Recognising the challenges facing the sector and the need to accentuate our different production system, Ireland’s beef industry came together in 2017 to fund a new collaboration called Meat Technology Ireland (MTI).

Based in Teagasc Ashtown, MTI is a five-year research programme co-funded by Ireland’s meat industry and Enterprise Ireland to the tune of €8.1m.

The meat companies involved in the project are ABP, Ashbourne Meats, Dawn Meats, Hilton Foods Ireland, Irish Country Meats, Kepak, Liffey Meats and Slaney Foods.

Together, these companies account for 85% of the beef and sheepmeat processing on the island of Ireland.

The research partners collaborating in MTI include the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), TU Dublin, University College Cork, Dublin City University and University College Dublin.

Led by Dr John Colreavy, MTI is the only research centre of its kind in the northern hemisphere that focuses solely on innovation and R&D in meat. While MTI initially focused on projects relating to areas such as genetics, meat tenderness and health, Colreavy says the organisation is now focused on developing sustainability further in its research work.

The anti-beef sentiment pushed by climate activists and influencers is a major threat

“Our first academic publication in 2017 represented the start of both the intent and direction of MTI in making a contribution to sustainable beef production. Our researchers recognised that apprehension among consumers was mounting on the efficiency by which cattle convert feedstuffs into human edible protein and energy, as well as the consequential effects on the environment,” says Colreavy.

Dr John Colreavy of Meat Technology Ireland.

“The objective of that first study from one of our lead PIs Donagh Berry, was to quantify the phenotypic and genetic variability in the age at which cattle reach a pre-defined carcase weight and subcutaneous fat cover. The researchers contended that there is large exploitable genetic variability that exists to shorten age at slaughter in cattle,” he adds.

Research

The initial research from MTI showed a difference of 150 days for the fastest and slowest growing 10% of cattle to reach the same carcase weight and fat cover. The research showed that up to 26% of this 150-day difference was down to genetics, meaning there is huge potential for efficiency gains within individual cattle breeds.

“Assuming the (genetic) variability in the number of days from birth to reaching a desired carcase specification can be exploited without any associated unfavourable repercussions, considerable potential exists therefore to improve not only the (feed) efficiency of the animal and farm system, but also the environmental footprint of the system,” says Colreavy.

“The beauty of this approach relative to strategies that select directly for feed intake, complex and enteric methane emissions, is that data at age-at-slaughter are readily available from the MTI processing companies, in addition to the yield of the animal,” he adds.

MTI’s research aims to identify and unlock the most efficient genetic traits in the Irish beef herd. This will allow farmers to produce more beef from less, which will in turn improve farm efficiency and profitability, as well as lowering the environmental and carbon footprint of Irish beef even more.

By pooling resources into MTI, Ireland’s meat processing industry has given itself a strategic competitive advantage that will allow it to tell a very positive story for the sustainability of Irish beef production based on hard science.

Case study: Dawn Meats

While Ireland’s meat industry is collaborating to fund MTI’s research work aimed at improving the carbon efficiency of Irish beef production at farm level, some processors are also investing within their own network of processing sites to improve their sustainability credentials.

Dawn Meats, the Co Waterford-based meat processor, has been a leader in this area by making ambitious commitments to reduce the environmental and carbon footprint of its processing plants.

As far back as 2015, Dawn committed to delivering a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity from its own facilities by 2025, while it also targeted a 40% reduction in water and energy intensity over the same period.

Last year, the company published its latest sustainability report which showed significant progress has already been made.

Dawn has already reduced its C02 emissions by 33%, while water usage is down 23% across all sites and energy consumption is down 18%.

These are known as scope 1 and scope 2 emissions.

Scope 1 emissions are those directly associated with a company’s manufacturing sites such as the consumption of fuels.

Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions arising from the consumption of electricity by a company.

Savings

According to Gill Higgins, head of CSR and sustainability at Dawn Meats, making small changes in energy efficiency at each of its processing sites accumulates into big savings across the Dawn group.

“Our goal is to be Europe’s most sustainable meat company. The majority of our scope 1 emissions relate to resources that we control and operate on our sites. Heating water at our plants is the biggest contributor to our scope 1 emissions, while energy used for refrigeration and effluent treatment are the biggest contributor to our scope 2 emissions,” says Higgins.

Dawn Meats is making ambitious commitments to reduce the environmental and carbon footprint of its processing plants. \ David Ruffles

“To reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions we’ve taken a number of actions. When it comes to water, different processes in our plants require different temperatures and volumes of water. We installed meters to measure water usage and have assigned targets for each individual plant to manage water usage for things like washing and cleaning,” she adds.

When it comes to lowering scope 2 emissions associated with energy consumption, Dawn has implemented a similar strategy of measure and manage.

“Again, we’ve used meters to identify the largest energy users across our plants,” says Higgins.

“Refrigeration is one of the largest energy consumers across our plants in the UK and Ireland so we use smart temperature controls to avoid over chilling and keep temperatures stable in fridges,” she adds.

Reduction

Dawn has since updated its sustainability targets following the acquisition of the Dunbia sites in Ireland and the joint venture with Dunbia UK.

The enlarged company now aims to reduce its absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% up to 2030.

However, like most companies in the food industry, the largest part of Dawn’s carbon footprint comes from its scope 3 emissions, which are all the indirect emissions linked to its supply chain. For Dawn, these mainly include the emissions associated with the beef and sheep it buys from farmers.

Dawn has made an ambitious commitment to reduce its scope 3 emissions by 28% per tonne of finished product by 2030. The company is currently in the process of building a roadmap to achieve this target, which will require greater collaboration between processor and farmer to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve efficiency in processing and on-farm.

Despite the challenges, the ongoing research at MTI should help meat companies such as Dawn overcome these hurdles.