A major Teagasc open day took place today, Wednesday, 10th June at the Teagasc Environment, Soils and Land Use Research Centre, Johnstown Castle, County Wexford.
Innovating for Healthy Soils and Clean Water were the main themes at ‘The Farming for a Better Future’ open day in Wexford, with many actions and measures showcased at the event to encourage farmers to protect soil health and water quality. Existing technologies for reducing gaseous emissions, protecting biodiversity and building carbon were demonstrated at the event. Grassland management in Dairy, Dairy-beef and organic systems were showcased providing practical demonstrations and tips for maximising productivity and remaining sustainable, and new technologies for slurry and manure management were demonstrated.
The event emphasised the importance of local knowledge of soils and water quality with ‘Know your Soils’ signposted as a key message at the Soil Health stop along the route, and knowledge and awareness of local water quality as one of the objectives and messages from the water quality stop at the open day.
Addressing the crowd at the event, Teagasc Director, Professor Frank O’Mara said; ‘’Competitiveness and resilience are critical to the future of our farming system and agri-food industry and both healthy soils and clean water are necessary building blocks for sustainable farm systems. The latest research and innovation that Teagasc has to offer is on display today. Teagasc strives to be a global leader in innovating for sustainable farm systems, and our research is constantly developing new information that we translate into actions that will improve the sustainability of the sector in Ireland.’’
Speaking at the open day , Dr. David Wall, Head of Enterprise at Teagasc Johnstown Castle, said; ’’Farmers face challenges such as rising costs, climate, volatile markets, and changing policy demands and today’s event is an opportunity to look at how we can build more resilience into farm systems to deal with these pressures.’’
Dr. Karen Daly, Head of the Teagasc Environment, Soils and Land Use Department, said; ‘’Many of the actions on display here today will have co-benefits for water, soils, gaseous emissions and biodiversity and we really encourage farmers to take one or two actions from today’s event that they can adopt on their farm system.’’
Local Knowledge is key to building resilience.
Soils are one of the most important resources around farms, local knowledge of soils is the first step to good soil management and getting to know what soils you have on your farm and where they are located is a good guide to planning how to manage them. Looking for visual clues in soils such as texture; clay, sand and silt are good indicators of soil drainage and organic matter that help avoid compaction and store carbon. Knowledge of local water quality is essential for farmers in a catchment to select the right measure to protect water quality in their local rivers and streams.
One action with multiple benefits
There are many technologies that farmers can adopt that will have multiple benefits. Liming soils to optimise soil pH is an example of a technology that improves nutrient cycling, crop growth, soil health and reduces gaseous emissions. Well managed healthy soils have multiple benefits, not just for production, but for water quality, biodiversity and reducing gaseous emission. Avoiding compaction in soil supports good crop yields, leaves air space for microbes and bacteria, allows water infiltration and reduces runoff risk to protect water quality.
All the information presented at the event is available here https://teagasc.ie/publications/