17 October 2022

Signpost Dairy Farmer Edwin Thompson – Reducing emissions from chemical nitrogen

Edwin Thompson, Signpost Dairy Farmer, gives us some insights into his family farm in Co. Tipperary and what they have done to improve their environmental sustainability.

Edwin is farming in Kilmore House, Golden, Co. Tipperary with his family. They are milking 158 cows on a milking platform of 140 acres.

Edwin spoke about his experiences of reducing emissions from chemical nitrogen, on his farm.  Edwin has moved away from using CAN and straight urea fertilisers to using only protected urea on his farm.  His experiences of using protected urea have been very positive.  It is a win-win for Edwin, good for the environment and good for his pocket. Protected urea is at least 25 per cent cheaper per kg nitrogen than CAN. Edwin has also switched to using low emissions slurry spreading (LESS) equipment, getting his slurry analysed for N, P and K content and applying slurry in Spring when he can get the best use of the nitrogen in the slurry. Edwin has white clover on approximately 30% of his grazing platform. He applies no chemical fertiliser nitrogen on this area from May onwards, taking advantage of the nitrogen fixed by the clover. Edwin has reduced his chemical fertiliser N use from 180 to 110 kg Nitrogen per hectare from 2021 to 2022, and average annual grass production has been maintained. He said; “That’s a considerable cost saving without affecting production.” 

“The benefits are massive, not only do I have cash in my pocket, but we don’t have to spread these paddocks every time the cows graze them. So I’m saving on labour, I’m helping the environment and I’m growing the grass.”

The family were always interested in the environment on their farm and when the opportunity arose to join the signpost programme he felt it was a good fit for the farm. Edwin is keen on clover “I like the sustainability aspect where farming can thrive without depending on too much use of chemicals.” The first thing they did was to purchase protected urea amd have seen no reduction in grass growth. They have invested in an LESS slurry spreading system which they find very beneficial as they can spread slurry and then graze again quite quickly. They have re-seeded 35 acres of the grazing platform, the clover paddocks got no nitrogen since mid May, but they do carefully watch the Ps and Ks.

On this episode of The Signpost Series which took place on Friday, 14 October, as part of Sustainability Week, Mark Gibson, Head of Teagasc Outreach & Innovation Department, Teagasc was joined in studio by Dr Seamus Kearney, Teagasc Signpost Programme and Dr Deirdre Hennessey, Teagasc to discuss the first steps to achieving our emissions reduction target – reducing emissions from chemical N. The panel were also joined on farm by Signpost Dairy Farmer Edwin Thompson, Teagasc Tipperary Joint Programme and Shane O’Hanlon, Teagasc Signpost Programme Advisor who gave an overview of the steps that Edwin is taking on the farm to reduce emissions from chemical N.

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