Irish farmers are producing milk meat and grain with lower levels of emissions per unit due to increasing efficiencies, yet total emissions are increasing due to incrased production.

This is one of the findings in the recently published Teagasc sustainability report for 2018. The report uses figures from the national farm survey to track the performance of farms across economic, environmental, social indicators.

Commenting on the findings during a webinar, Teagasc director Gerry Boyle said that while agriculture was making progress on a per unit basis, it was offset by a growth in production, particularly the diary sector. However, Boyle believes it will be possible to achieve national reduction targets if overall livestock numbers remain stable.

Environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability was measured through two main metrics; gaseous emissions and risk to water. Dairy farms had the highest greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions per hectare at 9.2 CO2 eq/ha and 49 NH3 kg/kg.

However, measured on an output basis, only tillage was more efficient at 1.6 CO2 eq/€ output versus dairy’s 3.0 CO2 eq/€ output. Tillage had the overall lowest amount of emissions also at 2.3 CO2 eq/ha.

Livestock farms fared well on a measure of overall emissions at 3.7 CO2 eq/ha for sheep farms and 4.5 CO2 eq/ha for cattle farms. However, lower levels of output means they rank dairy farms for emissions efficiency.

Economic sustainability

Dairy had the highest gross margin of any sector at €1,728/ha. This was a significant decline on 2017 figures due to drought challenges. This reduction saw he overall number of dairy farms considered viable fall to 73%, which was still the highest of any sector.

Tillage farms earned the next highest at €904/ha, a slight increase on the previous year but the number of viable farms was lower at 62%. The returns for cattle and sheep farms were lower again at €483/ha and €400/ha respectively and just one in five of these farms was considered viable.

Social sustainability

The report also considered other challenges facing farms. When it looked at the question of generational renewal it found dairy far outranked the others for the portion of younger farmers. Just 12% of farms fell into the high age bracket – a measure of the number of farmers over 60 with no member of the household under 45.

On beef, sheep and tillage farms the portion of farms with a high age profile was between 34% and 38%. Isolation was greatest among cattle farmers, with one in four living alone. This fell to 16% for tillage farms, 13% for sheep farms and just 7% for dairy farms.