According to Teagasc research, protected urea can reduce emissions on a typical 67-cow farm by almost 8%, Mark Plunkett said on Teagasc's Friday morning Signpost webinar.

Switching from CAN to protected urea causes an "instant reduction" in on-farm carbon emissions, Plunkett explained.

By switching to protected urea on this typical 50ac 67-cow farm, total carbon emissions can be reduced by 33.5t - the total emissions produced by seven cows.

In this farm example, the nitrogen rate is 210kg/ha for protected urea.

In order to get the same reduction in emissions from CAN, the nitrogen rate on this farm would have to be reduced by 40%. This, Plunkett said, would make this system unsustainable in terms of growing grass.

"Currently, you can apply 39t of CAN, but in order to get this emissions reduction that we do with protected urea we would have to go to 24t of CAN. Again, this is not enough nitrogen to feed the system in this farm example.

"As farmers sit down with their fertiliser plans and prepare their fertiliser shopping lists for 2025 - it's very important to select a cost effective fertiliser and also a fertiliser that's going to be easy on the environment," Plunkett said.

Cost savings

Not only is choosing to use protected urea the more sustainable option, it is also a more cost-effective option according to Plunkett.

Taking a real farm example where the recommended total nitrogen requirement is 17,500kg, phosphorus is 1,325kg and potassium is 2,555kg - total savings of €3,710 or €36/ha have been made by switching to using protected urea compared to using more traditional fertilisers.

This farm's fertiliser bill for using 29t of protected urea at €530/t and 22t of 18:6:12 + S at €500/t is €26,370.

Meanwhile, the more traditional route of using 53t of 27:2.5:5 + S at €490/t and 11t of CAN at €390/t is costing a total of €30,080.

"This is a real farm and the total savings here are quite significant in terms of the fertiliser bill, but also in terms if meeting our sustainable credentials."