Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation On and Off … · Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation On and Off the Farm ... Net margin €/ha Teagasc ePM dairy farms, 2003-2013-500

Challenges and Opportunities forInnovation On and Off the Farm

Professor Gerry Boyle, Director Teagasc

National Dairy Conference, Red Cow Hotel, Dublin,19th November, 2014

Dairy expansion plans 2015-17 – Teagasc NationalFarm Survey

Farmer category % planning toincrease*

% milk increase 2017

Existing farmers 60** 14.00

Potential newentrants

1.50 (900 farms) 3.00

Re-entering dairying 0.33 (200 farms) 0.67

All 62 18

*Only about 5% planning to cease or reduce production**About 50% planning to increase by between 10%-20% and another 20%planning to increase by between 20%-50%.

Ireland’s grass-based dairy production model

productiveryegrass/

cloverswards

compactseasonal

calving highEBI dairy

cattle

skilledagronomicmanagement

Ireland’s grass-based dairy production model

skilledagronomicmanagement

Model ideal for the post quota environment• Profitable• Competitive• Replicable• Resilient• Sustainable

But there’s big scope for improvement …

Net margin €/ha Teagasc ePM dairy farms, 2003-2013

-500

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013(prov)

Top 1/3

Bottom 1/3

The top 1/3 also have the lowest carbon emissions per litre.

They’re also more likely to be in discussion groups,milk recording and applying slurry in the spring.

Dairy farms (%) achieving Teagasc “Roadmap”targets, 2013

2012 2013

Milk yield per cow: ≥ 5,200 litres 36 43

Milk solids per cow: ≥ 378kg 37 43

Protein Content: ≥3.4% 42 47

Fat Content: ≥ 3.95% 46 51

SCC: ≤ 200,000 cells/ml 47 47

Teagasc National Farm Survey Factsheets

Dairy farms (%) achieving Teagasc “Roadmap”targets, 2013

Teagasc National Farm Survey Factsheets

Only 11% of dairy soil samples, have

optimum pH, P, and K.

‘Best Practice’ adoption on Teagasc NFS dairyfarms, 2009

%

Milk Recording 42

Use of Herd Plus 28

Use of AI 82

Use of genomically selected bulls 23

Use of dry cow therapy to reduce mastitis 98

Use of teat disinfection to reduce mastitis 90

Use of BVD vaccinations 39

Strip graze every 12 hours for cows 44

Complete grass covers 17

Complete grass budgets 12

Regular soil testing 66

Use of cashflow budget 13

Use of e-profit monitor 26

‘Best Practice’ adoption on Teagasc NFS dairyfarms, 2009

• Huge potential remains to be leveraged• An independent and well-resourced

advisory & education service focusedon technology adoption critical

Pushing out the innovation frontier … Breeding …Grassland management … Sustainableintensification …

Well on the way to solving fertility

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Year of birth

PTA

calving

inte

rval(d

)

370

375

380

385

390

395

400

Phenotp

iccalving

inte

rval(d

)

Phenotypic Genetic

Well on the way to solving fertility

Next GenerationHerd

Control

Submission rate (%) 92 82

Pregnancy rate - 6 wks (%) 77 60

Final pregnancy rate - 12 wks (%) 95 78

Animal health – the “new fertility”

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

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2

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3

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4

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6

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7

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8

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Prevalence

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20

40

60

0.0

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6

0.2

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0.2

4

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8

0.3

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quency

Prevalence

0

20

40

60

80

0.0

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0.2

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4

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8

0.3

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Prevalence

0

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0.0

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Prevalence

Lameness Mastitis

Cysticovaries

TB

Animal health – the “new fertility”

Animal health is the“new fertility” …

… and breeding has a role inimproving status …

“Big data”

Using satellite imagery we can nowreliably depict how well grass is growingeven down to your own farm … Theservice will be live on line from Feb 1st

2015.

NASA

Teagasc Kildalton Open Source Sustainable Farm

Phase 0 (year 1)Baseline monitoring

- Carbon footprint- Soil survey- Water quality- Biodiversity- Habitats

Phase 1 (yr 2-3)Best practices “plus”

- Carbon Navigator- 5-point nutrient plan- 5-step biodiv. plan- Grass wedge- Sexed semen

Phase 2 (yr 4-5)Infrastructure

-Agro-forestry-Biomass boiler-College as energy

client-College effluent forenergy crop

-

Phase 3 (yr 6-7)Emerging technologies

Real-time soil moisturemonitoring for nutrient& grazing management.

Innovation off the farm …

Ireland’s recent ‘infrastructural’investment for milk expansion isImpressive!

Glanbia ‘Belview’ 2 x Dryers

Glanbia ‘Ballyragget’ – Butter& Separation

Lakelands – ‘Killeshandra’ UHT

Lakelands – Dryer

Arrabawn –Evaporation

Dairygold 2 x Dryers

Aurivo – Dryer

Kerry ‘Charleville’ Dryer + Canning

North Cork – Dryer

Carbery – Cheese, Dryer Upgrade and Packaging

Glanbia ‘Virginia’ – Separation

Glanbia ‘Monaghan’ – UHTSubstantial investmentin capacity - €600+m.

• Processing• Products• Environmental

But R&D spend toolow – all food only0.65% of turnover

IDB – Butter

Lakelands – Recomm. ‘LoughEgish Dryer’

Parting remarks

• Innovation challenges on and off the farm but also bigopportunities

• Critical that public and private commitment to investment ininnovation (research, advisory and education) matches ourambition for export growth

• Innovation requires innovators! – more land needs to be used bythose that want to innovate and who are capable of innovating

Acknowledgements

Tom BeresfordDonagh BerryKevin ConnollyEmma DillonPat DillonGary FalconerReamonn FealyMark FenelonPadraig FrenchStuart GreenThia Hennessy

Brendan HoranBrian MoranLance O’BrienMichael O’DonovanTom O’DwyerJoe PattonGeorge RamsbottomKarl RichardsRogier SchulteLaurence ShallooDeclan Troy