Meeting told that native grains can reduce carbon footprint of farms
Teagasc is confirming that the inclusion of native grains in compound feed rations can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of livestock farming enterprises.
E.g., a 65% inclusion rate of native grains in compound feeds, relative to imports, will act to reduce the carbon intensity of these rations by almost 50%.
In a dairying context, this can lead to a 7.5% reduction in the carbon footprint generated by such businesses.
“This is equivalent to the carbon footprint reduction generated through the use of low emission slurry spreading systems,” Teagasc climate advisor, Gary Fisher confirmed.
“So a simple switch to native grains can deliver real benefits for the livestock sector when it comes to achieving a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emission levels."
Fisher was speaking at a recent meeting for tillage farmers held at ‘An Grianan’ Hotel, near Burt in Co. Donegal.
The Letterkenny-based advisor endorsed the use of the tillage AgNav sustainability platform as the means by which the low carbon footprint of Irish grains can be officially verified.
He further explained: “Using the tillage AgNav tool is a straightforward process. Growers wanting to use the system must be Irish Grain Assurance Scheme and Signpost compliant.
“Once the tillage AgNav registration process has been completed, a carbon footprint value for all individual crop enterprises can be arrived at in a matter of minutes."
Teagasc Oak Park AgNav figures for crops harvested in 2025 confirm net carbon footprint values for cereal crops in the region 164kg to 180kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per tonne of grain produced.
Significantly, these figures are less than half those produced in most of the world’s other grain production regions.
Accounting for this trend are the higher yields that can be sustainably achieved under Irish growing conditions.
However, Irish carbon footprint figures drop to almost zero for a crop of winter oats if the straw is chopped and subsequently incorporated into the soil.
“Analysis of the tillage AgNav results generated up to this point confirms the key contribution that fertiliser applications make to the carbon footprint of a cereal crop," Fisher continued.
“So anything that can be done to improve the efficiency of nitrogen, potash and phosphate applications will act to reduce the environmental impact generated by crops.”
And in this context, two options become immediately apparent: the use of Green Area Indices to determine the spring application rates of nitrogen on winter oilseed rape, and the use of slurries as a spring fertiliser application source on winter cereal crops.
