NIGTA delegates discuss the big issues facing agri-food in NI

The biggest challenges within the sector include air and water quality as well as the continuing journey towards Net Zero Carbon emissions.

Dr Alistair Carson from DAERA attended the meeting to present to the Feed Executive the full scale of the challenge in addressing the high level of nutrients, especially Phosphorous, in Lough Neagh and other water courses. It is principally phosphorous that causes the blue-green algal bloom each summer. Much of this nutrient excess is stored in the sediment on the lough bed and it is estimated that it could take more than a generation to correct the excess.

Dr Carson discussed the Lough Neagh Action Plan (LNAP) – the 37-point range of actions to try to reverse the nutrient surplus in Lough Neagh and other water courses in NI.

NIGTA members are committed to do their part in helping to turn the situation around and continue to consult with DAERA regarding phosphorous levels in feed to safely reduce phosphorous emissions to the environment.

Teddy Roosevelt the former US President is quoted to have said “Don’t Bring Me Problems—Bring Me Solutions!”

With this in mind, Declan Billington proceeded to deliver a considered and well thought out presentation entitled ‘Energy Solutions for a Green Future’. This gave a fresh perspective on the generation of energy using farm wastes. His contention is that in the near future, Anaerobic Digesters (AD) should provide much of our base load power requirements from farm manures with wind making up the balance. He stressed the importance of scale and estimated that NI should have around eight large AD plants to cope with the farm wastes currently being produced. Slurry separators are widely available to reduce the tonnage being transported by removing the liquid fraction efficiently.

As an example, the enlarged AD plant planned for Tully near Ballymena when it is completed, will process up to 200,000 tonnes of poultry manure per annum and will be a ‘biomethane to grid’ plant generating up to 300 GWh per year. That is sufficient gas for the town of Ballymena or enough to fuel 600 HGVs. This could also reduce phosphorous going onto land by 6000 tonnes, which is more than the annual surplus currently being spread

either as slurry or chemical fertiliser. By 2035 we should be mostly using organic fertilisers derived from the residues from AD plants as opposed to using imported chemical fertiliser.

Carbon offsetting with tree-planting and the use of methane inhibitors in ruminant diets should be the norm once their efficacy can be confirmed at farm scale.

It was encouraging to hear that whilst the agri-food industry here in Northern Ireland is under the microscope in terms of the emissions it produces, there are practical solutions out there that will address both nutrient excesses going onto land and that will advance our journey to Net Zero Carbon by 2050.