20 August 2024
Celebrating AGRIP
Looking back at two decades of contributions from the Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Programme at Teagasc, driving positive developments across the agri-food industry.
Teagasc’s Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Programme (AGRIP) strives to make an impact to the agri-food sector by bringing together several streams of work at different disciplinary, strategic and temporal scales.
In November 2023, as part of its peer review process, AGRIP chose to highlight 12 particularly impactful case studies from the past two decades, providing insight into how AGRIP research and knowledge transfer over time has contributed to worthwhile outcomes for farmers, industry partners and policymakers. The case studies also point towards AGRIP’s potential for greater future impact through its ever-evolving network of industry relationships.
Each case study contributed to change along some or all of three identified impact pathways: technology development & adoption; capacity-building; and policy influencing. This suggests that the programme is not only developing and transferring gap-filling research and technologies, but also contributing to the mechanisms that make this knowledge accessible and usable by end users. These pathways, outlined in Teagasc’s Statement of Strategy, ‘Teagasc Together’, depict an overarching model of how Teagasc contributes to developmental impact in the agri-food sector.
Teagasc’s Animal & Grassland Research Innovation Programme provides valuable research and knowledge transfer for farmers and policymakers alike. Photo credit Andrew Downes
Increasing tech uptake on dairy calf-to-beef farms
Established in 2015, the Teagasc Green Acres Demonstration Farm Programme operated for two phases of three years each and consisted of 10 to 12 demonstration farms that implemented best practice in their dairy calf-to-beef enterprises, supported by an intensive advisory service provided to them by Teagasc. Additional support and advice came from six commercial companies that provided funding for the programme. The primary output from the programme was the production of a significant amount of knowledge transfer material. This was used by Teagasc advisors, specialists and researchers and industry partners with over 10,000 farmers who have a significant dairy calf-to-beef enterprise on their farm, to confirm how the uptake of technologies on their farms would support their sustainable dairy calf-to-beef system.
Pathways: Technology development & adoption, capacity-building
Teagasc Researcher: Pearse Kelly
Sex-Sorted Semen Research and Implementation Programme
Over the last decade, several research projects conducted by Teagasc Moorepark – in collaboration with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, University College Dublin, Sexing Technologies, and Irish artificial insemination companies – elucidated the optimal strategies for using sexed semen. Sexing Technologies established a laboratory at Moorepark in September 2021 and a second lab at the National Cattle Breeding Centre in Naas in November 2022, providing a sex-sorting service for all artificial insemination companies operating in Ireland.
Through co-ordinated research and extension activities led by the Teagasc Animal and Bioscience Research Department, Teagasc Dairy KT, and Teagasc Dairy advisors, dairy farmers are now using an increasing amount of sexed semen to generate their replacement heifers. As usage increases in the years ahead, this will diminish the number of lower beef merit male dairy calves, improve the quality of beef calves derived from the dairy herd, and improve the environmental footprint of beef production by reducing age at slaughter.
Pathways: Technology development & adoption, capacity-building
Teagasc Researcher: Stephen Butler
Photo credit: Donal O’Leary
Roll out of the €uro-Star indexes for sheep
Introduced in 2009 by Sheep Ireland, the national €uro-Star genetic indexes have been crucial in enabling farmers to make more informed breeding and selection decisions – ensuring desirable genetics combinations for their flock. Since its inception, Teagasc researchers and Knowledge Transfer have played a pivotal role in developing and refining the national sheep breeding programme.
Although initially focused on one breeding goal – the Sheep Value Index – further breeding goals and indices (terminal and replacement) were launched in 2014, following consultation with industry, including input from Teagasc geneticists who were involved in their inception and development. The €uro-star indices aim to identify low-cost, easy-care animals with good maternal characteristics, that also produce high-quality lambs that reach slaughter at an early age. Research shows there is a difference of €18 per ewe between flocks of high versus low genetic merit for maternal traits. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions intensity was 7% lower for flocks of high genetic merit.
Pathways: Technology adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Noirin McHugh, Phillip Creighton and Fiona McGovern
Developing the AgNav Digital Platform
AgNav is a farmer-centric digital sustainability platform which presents farmers and advisors with farm-specific greenhouse gas (GHG) values, a decision support tool, and an action planner. It is currently being used with farmers through the Teagasc Signpost Programme which is targeting 50,000 participants before 2030.
AgNav is a collaboration between Teagasc, Bord Bia, and ICBF and emerged from a longer standing partnership between the three organisations and other stakeholders as part of the national farm carbon audit programme and the Teagasc research programme.
Pathways: Technology development & adoption, capacity-building
Teagasc Researchers: Jonathan Herron, Donal O’Brien and Paul Crosson
Photo credit: Teagasc
PastureBase Ireland
PastureBase Ireland (PBI), developed with extensive industry collaboration, was launched in January 2013 with the objectives of optimising pasture utilisation across all ruminant sectors, improving farm productivity, promoting sustainable grazing practices, and supporting evidence-based decision-making in Irish agriculture. The database is a central reservoir for commercial and research grassland measurements that can be accessed by famers, advisors and co-op representatives. PBI has grown its user base substantially and supports its users through an offline app and fulltime helpdesk.
Supporting the use of PBI and promoting sustainable grassland excellence are the Pasture Profit Index, developed in 2015, which provides an economic value for different perennial ryegrass varieties, and the 2017 Grass 10 Campaign with partners Grassland Agro, AIB, FBD, Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and the Irish Farmers Journal.
Pathways: Technology adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Michael O’Donovan, Tomas Tubritt and Ciaran Hearne
Mitigation of chlorine-associated residues in the Irish dairy chain
In 2007, concerns emerged regarding levels of trichloromethane in Irish butter. Teagasc researchers identified the sources of these residues, developed testing methods, and worked with industry stakeholders to implement mitigation strategies. This led to a substantial decrease in chlorine-associated residue levels in milk and dairy products over time, allowing Irish dairy processors to meet stringent regulatory and customer requirements.
Key actors included the milk producers, milk processors and milk quality personnel, Teagasc advisors, Ornua, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), water suppliers (UE/NFGWS), Milk Quality Ireland, infant milk formula manufacturers and chlorine-free detergent supply companies.
Pathways: Technology adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Bernadette O’Brien and David Gleeson
Photo credit: Elena Medoks/istockphoto.com
Delivering gains in cattle
Breeding is a proven technology that has demonstrably delivered sustainable, cumulative and permanent gains in performance with no required change to day-to-day farm management. Sustainable genetic gain is based on an effective database of information from a wide range of genetically divergent animals representative of the national population. Ireland boasts one of the best animal databases globally, held by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation and Sheep Ireland.
Through collaboration with industry, Teagasc’s main role is to develop the direction of breeding for future production systems and to subsequently evaluate the outputs through controlled experiments and population studies, as well as identifying genetically elite animals. The outputs are tools to help make better breeding decisions, both by the breeding industry and the farmer end users. The impact on the sector has been quantified at €3.48bn over the past 22 years, as well as lessening the environmental footprint of production.
Pathways: Technology adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Donagh Berry, Alan Twomey, Noirin McHugh, David Kelly and Maeve Williams
Enhancing uptake of key dairy farm management technologies
From 2015 to 2021, AGRIP assisted in the delivery of the Teagasc-Dairygold joint programme operating in the Southern region, and the Teagasc-Lakeland joint programme, operating in the Midlands-North region. The Dairygold joint programme delivered monthly content to 1,000 milk suppliers across 65 Teagasc dairy discussion groups. The Lakeland Dairies joint programme delivered 25-30 regional technical workshops annually, directly contacting 600-800 suppliers.
There was a high degree of commonality in technical objectives across the joint programmes: financial sustainability of growth in milk supply; increased uptake of milk recording; breeding for higher Economic Breeding Index; improved soil fertility and grassland; and building awareness of environmental sustainability obligations. On-farm changes across all these dimensions took place with farmer suppliers. The continuity of such programmes is important for driving the longer-term impact of extension programmes.
Pathways: Technology development & adoption, capacity-building
Teagasc Researchers: Joe Patton, Stuart Childs and James Dunne
Improving sustainability of Irish dairy and dairy-beef production
Teagasc’s dairy-beef research programme has made significant contributions to the development, promotion and implementation of production blueprints that enhance productivity, profitability and environmental efficiency. The programme’s focus on high welfare, grass-based systems, early age at slaughter and carbon efficiency has furthered the social acceptance of Irish dairy and beef production, aligning with societal expectations and environmental sustainability goals. Teagasc research and Knowledge Transfer is providing policymakers and other key stakeholders with the necessary evidence to support further dairy-beef integration.
To build sectoral capacity, Teagasc and other organisations have developed training and outreach programs (DairyBeef 500 Campaign) and resources to educate farmers on the benefits of dairy-beef production. This has increased awareness and understanding of dairy-beef’s potential and provided farmers with the necessary knowledge and skills to adopt the technologies.
Pathways: Technology development & adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Nicky Byrne, Alan Dillon and Alan Twomey
Photo credit: Teagasc
Lowering antimicrobial use in pigs
Antimicrobial resistance is ranked as one of 10 most important global health issues by the World Health Organization. Historically, pig systems are the main users of antibiotics at an international and national level, due mainly to the use of antimicrobials in feed, often as a preventive measure. After almost 10 years of collaboration between DAFM, Teagasc and other stakeholders, due to significant improvements in husbandry, the level of antimicrobial use in the pig sector has decreased by 46%.
Although welcome, the associated challenge for the sector is to ensure, through the prudent use of antimicrobials, that there are no unnecessary health and welfare issues on pig farms. The research, tools and advice to support this are being generated by Teagasc’s research and Knowledge Transfer together with key collaborators DAFM, Animal Health Ireland, Pig HealthCheck programme, UCD Veterinary School, Bord Bia and the Irish Farmers Association.
Pathways: Technology adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Edgar Garcia Manzanilla and Ciaran Carroll
Photo credit: Teagasc
Influencing policy and clover uptake
Since the implementation of the clover research programme in 2010, Teagasc researchers, knowledge transfer specialists and advisors have played a key role in providing peer-reviewed scientific data, developing management strategies, and demonstrating technologies to give confidence to the industry that clover can replace chemical N fertiliser at farm level, and increase the sustainability of Irish agriculture.
Although uptake at farm level was initially slow, white clover seed sales increased by 177% between 2013 and 2022, with red clover sales increasing by 538% over the same period.
Pathways: Technology adoption, capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Brian McCarthy and Michael Egan
Photo credit: TAMER YILMAZ/istockphoto.com
Expanding the Irish dairy sector
Prior to and following the abolition of milk quota, Teagasc research identified, evaluated and demonstrated technologies that would allow farmers to expand milk production while maintaining or reducing cost of production. Teagasc research and modelling fed into the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s FoodHarvest 2020 recommendations for expansion of the dairy sector.
The Teagasc Dairy Expansion Service was established in 2015 to help farmers plan their dairy farm expansion decisions in the wake of the milk quota abolition. The service was also available to new entrants to dairy farming. The service had three main components: a business planning service, which offered physical and financial planning for the clients; a collaborative farming service to support new collaborative farming structures; and a discussion group programme for new entrants to dairying. The service also provided an annual training course for non-Teagasc farm advisors, bankers and accountants on financial KPIs for dairy systems.
Pathways: Capacity-building, policy influencing
Teagasc Researchers: Padraig French and Joe Patton
Contributors
Kevin Heanue, Senior Evaluation Officer, Teagasc Athenry/Oak Park
Marie Ferré, Researcher, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD).
Laurence Shalloo, Head of Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Programme, Teagasc Moorepark