Game-changing tech for tillage

From the start of this month, all tillage farmers in Ireland can calculate the carbon footprint of their farms using a life cycle assessment (LCA) model that is specifically tailored for tillage. An LCA model looks at the inputs, outputs and potential environmental impacts associated with a product, service or organisation throughout its life cycle, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Prior to this, Irish tillage farmers could only use international figures, and although it is early days, it appears that our Irish tillage footprint is tidy – and that’s official.

Collaborating with Tirlán, Teagasc has developed an LCA model to evaluate the carbon footprint of native grains from cradle to farm-gate, with the scope of the model extending from the acquisition of raw materials right through to harvesting. This was made possible with the help of 48 large-scale farmer suppliers of Tirlán located in the southeast, east and midlands of Ireland. These farmers participated in a pilot study where they shared, with Teagasc, their harvest data. This included crop type, variety, area, seeding rate, rotation, yield, moisture content, drying method, and storage period. In addition, they provided information on straw chopping, incorporation, and removal, and included cover crop planting rates and destruction methods. Soil information was also captured including topsoil texture, pH, nutrient indexes and cultivation techniques, for example plough-based, minimum tillage and direct drill. Types and amounts of fertilisers and organic manures applied were also recorded, as well as liming rates and the number of tractor passes of fertilisers and crop protectants. Precision farming, biodiversity, and recorded grain and straw incomes were also provided.

Quite a few crop varieties were included such as winter wheat, winter barley, spring malting barley, winter oats, winter oilseed rape and spring feed barley, and the totality of land included in the pilot was 11,500 hectares, which is about 3.3 per cent of our national tillage area. In brief, the pilot showed that the carbon footprints of large-scale Tirlán grain growers were low by international standards.
The participation of these farmers was key, Siobhán explains, to incorporating a uniquely Irish LCA model for tillage to AgNav: “ It enabled us to design the best model [for AgNav], helping us refine what exact data points really contributed to the baseline number. Because it’s always important – when you are collecting primary data – that you’re asking for the most important data numbers rather than the nice-to-have [numbers].” The LCA model utilises national information on agricultural emissions and carbon capture and retention – sequestration – to determine carbon footprint as kilogrammes of CO₂ equivalent per tonne (CO₂-e/t) of grain produced. The methodology, Siobhán says, is ISO compatible and progressing towards Carbon Trust certification: “From a worldwide perspective or European perspective, it shows that this model has huge credibility, that it has been peer reviewed and published as research, but equally that it is of a really good standard.”

Sustainable sector

Recently, the Irish Grain Growers (IGG) published its 2026 budget submission. In it, it referenced the tillage sector’s carbon footprint, stating: “A recently conducted LCA for Irish grain on a wide range of commercially grown Irish cereals has confirmed that Irish-grown crops are among the most carbon efficient in the world. For Irish oats, this was confirmed to be at 207kg CO₂-e/t compared with 1,000kg CO₂-e/t for countries like Italy and Spain.” But, the IGG pointed out, tillage farmers are not properly rewarded for the sustainable farming practices that are commonplace on tillage farms. Can AgNav address and rectify this? Siobhán explains: “Yes.  Farmers [tillage] have long suspected that their products have a very low carbon footprint, but up to now international default emission factors have only been available.  
“So what’s unique about this is we now have Irish-based emission factors, and early results are absolutely showing that they are low in comparison to the international supply.  I think the addition of tillage to AgNav will really showcase our environmental credentials internationally and contribute to the national climate goals.
“But also I hope that it will really spur on feed manufacturers to consider using Irish grain and question why they are not, rather than using imports. And, I think there should probably be a little pressure put on feed compounders regarding formulations, to ask the question, why are they not using Irish grain given the sustainability credentials of it.”
Already there is strong interest in AgNav from tillage farmers, according to Siobhán: “That was evidenced at Teagasc’s crops and technology open day.  We really saw a lot of farmers interested in how this will work and when will they be able to input their data.” Farmers have been able to input data from August 1, coinciding with harvest time.

AgNav future developments

While ambitions remain to further develop AgNav, Siobhán says that what has been achieved so far is hugely positive: “If we look at the EU’s Vision for Agriculture that was launched earlier this year, they talk about voluntary on-farm sustainability compasses and that is exactly what AgNav is, but we have almost leaped ahead of what is a vision for agriculture in Europe to what is actually being done in Ireland.” But, while there is a lot done, there is more to do, as Siobhán explains: “We have a sheep model developed but we need to do a co-design with farmers and get that moving to the software stage. By the time we do the pilot with the farmers, it’s probably going to be quarter one of next year.” Then, there will be LCA models developed for the pig and poultry sectors and further down the line, biodiversity, and above- and below-ground carbon calculations will be included. Siobhán adds: “Alongside all that, we will also have new forecaster features and general updates every year to the beef and dairy systems, and the tillage model.”

Voluntary versus compulsory

Currently, AgNav is being rolled out by Teagasc via its Signpost Advisory programme, and more widely via processor sustainability schemes. So far, more than 16,500 dairy and beef farmers have voluntarily partaken in AgNav.

The voluntary nature of the programme is a positive thing, according to Siobhán. The carrot works better than the stick, she says. “I think the carrot here is in helping farmers and getting them to think about their agricultural practices. It is about education and understanding why they are doing these things. I think that comes through better when it is utilised voluntarily. If you use a stick approach, will all that get lost in a scheme, will practices change long-term?”

Siobhán says that other countries look enviously at Ireland’s AgNav platform. The ICBF’s centralised breeding database has been hugely valuable to AgNav as it already amassed so much important breeding and genetic information. Such a repository does not exist elsewhere, says Siobhán. “That is what has given us the leapfrog here,” she says.