Presentation to the Joint Committee
on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Dr Helen Sheridan
Dr Paul Murphy
School of Agriculture and Food Science,
University College Dublin
1
Challenges facing Agriculture
• FH2020 (national roadmap)
•
Convention on Biodiversity 1992
• Birds Directive (79/409/EEC as
amended 2009/43/EC)
• Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)
• EIA Directive (85/337/EEC)
• Water Framework Directive
(2000/60/EC)
• Agri-Environment Regulation
(2078/92/EEC)
• EU 2020 Greenhouse gas targets
Agri-Baseline – Summary of Farm Habitat Incidence
3
4
Dependence of Irish Farmers on Direct
Payments
Hennessy et al. (2013)
5
Grassland Field Margins
• 2001 Walsh Fellowship funding – PhD student
– Reintroduce botanical diversity
– Management measures to facilitate persistence
• Treatments
– Fencing
– Rotavation and natural regeneration
– Reseeding with a grass and wild flower mix
• Width and grazing
• 2006 Research Stimulus funding - PhD student
• 2012 Walsh Fellowship Funding – MSc student
Grassland Field Margin Botanical Results
Sheridan et al. (2008) Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 123, 225-232.
Sheridan et al. (2009) Biology and Environment, 109B, 2, 91-102.
Sheridan et al. (2009) Ecology, Management and Restoration. Nova publishers, USA.
Fritch, Sheridan et al. (2011) Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 551-560.
Anderson, McCormack, Helden, Sheridan, Kinsella, Purvis (2011). Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 382-390.
Finn, et al. (2013)
Dry Matter Yield per Hectare (DMY/ha)
Dry matter yield per hectare
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Ryegrass
monoculture
(250 kg N/ha)
Ryegrass
monoculture
(90 kg N/ha)
Ryegrass & Simple Mixture Complex
white clover 6 species (90 kg Mixture - 9
(90 kg N/ha)
N/ha)
species (90 kg
N/ha)
N surplus (kg/ha)
600
500
400
143 kg N/ha
300
200
100
0
Mihailescu E, Murphy PNC, Ryan W, Casey IA & Humphreys J 2014. Nitrogen balance and use efficiency on twenty-one intensive grass-based
dairy farms in the South of Ireland. The Journal of Agricultural Science. doi:10.1017/S0021859614000045
http://www.interregdairyman.eu/en/dairyman.htm
10
500
N Surplus (kg N/ha)
400
300
Farm A
200
Management
100
Farm B
0
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
Milk Production (l/ha)
25,000
Buckley C, Murphy PNC & Wall D. Farm-gate N and P balances and use efficiencies across specialist dairy farms in the
Republic Ireland. Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme, Working Paper 13-WP-RE-02
http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/rerc/downloads/workingpapers/13wpre02.pdf
11
Well drained soil
Poorly drained soil
Well Drained
Well Drained
Moderately Well Drained
Imperfectly Drained
Poorly Drained
Poorly Drained
area
Catchment
Proportion
of soils within
each(%)
P index
P loss in stream (kg/ha/yr)
0.50
0.45
P index 1
Soil P Index
P index 2
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
Arable A
Arable B
Arable A
Arable B
Grassland A
G
Catchme
Melland AR, Mellander P-E, Murphy PNC, Wall DP, Mechan S, Shine O, Shortle G & Jordan P 2012.
Stream water quality in intensive cereal cropping catchments with regulated nutrient management.
Environmental Science and Policy 24, 58-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.06.006
12
FH2020, GHGs and Water Quality
• FH2020 targets and GHG/Water Quality targets can be achieved, in
principle
• Management is key- Better Management Practices (BMPs)
• Land use and land and nutrient management
• Management determines fate of nutrients- taken up in crop/animal or lost
to the environment
• Policies need to encourage BMPs
• NAP / Nitrates Regulations
• Integrated Catchment/Landscape Management
• Advisory, Education, Knowledge Transfer
• Better Farms, Discussion Groups, SmartFarms
• Need to be able to get credit for improvements- inventories and product
labelling
• Emission estimates based on simple measures of intensity can be
misleading
• One size does not fit all
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