New digital tool helps tillage farmers track their environmental impact
(Left to right) John Spink, Teagasc; Professor Frank O Mara, Teagasc Director; Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD; Dr Jack Kennedy, editor of the Irish Farmers Journal and Liam Woulfe, Teagasc Authority. Picture: Dylan Vaughan.
Tillage farmers across Ireland now have access to a new digital platform that can calculate the carbon footprint of their crops, following the launch of an expanded AgNav system at Oak Park yesterday.
Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon officially launched the tillage feature of at Teagasc’s Crops and Technology Open Day on Wednesday at Teagasc’s head office in Carlow. The platform, which previously served dairy and beef farmers, now extends its environmental monitoring capabilities to crop growers.
AgNav is an online tool developed through a partnership between Teagasc, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, and Bord Bia. It helps farmers measure their environmental impact and identify ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their operations.
The new tillage component uses a “life cycle assessment” model specifically designed for Irish farming conditions. Developed by Teagasc in collaboration with Tirlán, the model tracks the carbon footprint of grain crops from the sourcing of raw materials right through to harvest.
“The tillage sector has a major role to play in achieving Ireland’s climate targets,” Minister Heydon said at the launch. “I welcome this new development in AgNav which allows farmers to understand their emissions profile and to identify ways of making further sustainability improvements at farm level.” Early findings suggest Irish tillage crops may have significantly lower carbon footprints compared to international supplies. Previously, Irish farmers could only estimate their environmental impact using general international data rather than Ireland-specific measurements.
Professor Frank O'Mara, Teagasc director, explained the significance: “Irish tillage farmers have long suspected their products had a low carbon footprint, but up until now could only calculate it using international default emissions factors. Early results from the Life Cycle Assessment indicate their carbon footprints are very low, in comparison to international supplies.” The system calculates emissions as CO2 per tonne of grain produced, using national data on agricultural emissions and carbon capture. This allows farmers to get precise measurements tailored to Irish growing conditions and practices.
John Spink, who heads Teagasc's crops, environment and land use programme, encouraged widespread adoption of the tool. “Farmers will be able to sign-up and get a demonstration of how to use the system. I would encourage all growers to register and use AgNav so that we can get a good view of the carbon footprint of Irish tillage crops.” The platform expansion represents part of Ireland’s broader commitment to sustainable agriculture and meeting national climate goals. Dr Siobhán Jordan from Teagasc’s technology transfer office indicated that additional farming enterprises will be added to AgNav in coming years.
The launch took place at the annual Crops and Technology Open Day at Oak Park, organised with the Irish Farmers Journal. The event showcased the latest research on tillage and horticultural crops, along with machinery demonstrations focusing on precision spraying technology.
