AgriSearch releases beef and sheep carbon benchmarking report

The Beacon Farm Network is made up of 48 innovative farmers across Northern Ireland from a range of ruminant farming enterprises.

In 2021, Beacon Farm Network farmers had their farms benchmarked using the Agrecalc carbon benchmarking program. Beef and sheep enterprises within the Network were found to emit an average of 34kg CO2equivalents/kg product. The Agrecalc system for carbon benchmarking also takes into account carbon sequestration on farm from soil and woodland. The farms involved were found to sequester an average of 43.8% of CO2e emitted by farming operations.

In terms of Net Whole Farm emissions, beef and sheep farmers within the Beacon Farm Network were found to emit an average of 789T and 579T of CO2e/yr respectively. Agrecalc has the ability to present an emissions breakdown in terms of emissions type and source, which can indicate areas of the business where high levels of emissions are prevalent, making it easier to target mitigations. Emissions sources from Beacon Farm Network beef and sheep enterprises included enteric fermentation, manure management, fertiliser application, purchased feed, fuel and electricity.

After all 48 farms within the Beacon Farm Network were carbon benchmarked, seven farms were selected to complete further case studies to fully explore emissions sources on farm and develop practical measures that could be implemented to mitigate emissions. Four of these farms looked at in more depth had beef and/or sheep enterprises.

The four farms were made up of an upland beef and sheep farm, a beef and arable farm, a lowland sheep farm, and a small beef farm. Carbon footprint mitigations that were recommended to farmers included incorporating more clover into grazing and silage swards to reduce reliance on chemical fertiliser, carrying out slurry and soil analysis to tailor nutrient applications to individual fields to reduce wastage of inputs and reduce leaching risk, and applying slurry using Low Emissions Slurry Spreading equipment to reduce ammonia emissions.