A Model for Sustainable Dairy with Carbery Group

Imagine a dairy farm that slashes its carbon footprint, boosts biodiversity and remains commercially profitable. This isn't a dream – it's the reality at Farm Zero C, a world-first project in Ireland co-led by Carbery Group and BiOrbic.

We sat down with some of the green dream team behind Farm Zero C, Enda Buckley - Director of Sustainability, Cian White - Postdoctoral Researcher (aka the “Biodiversity Guru”), and Padraig Walsh - Farm Zero C Project Manager.

Their mission? To create a replicable sustainable dairy model that transforms not just Carbery's 1,180-farm supply chain but the entire dairy industry.

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Farm Zero C: A Pioneering Model for Sustainable Dairy

Farm Zero C isn't just a research project; it's a working farm on the Shinagh Estate dairy farm in County Cork. It is set up to prove that sustainability and profitability can go hand-in-hand (having remained in Ireland’s top 5-10% of farm profitability). Here are their initiatives and unfiltered learnings:

Enhancing biodiversity: (7.5% → 10% habitat achieved, meeting the EU’s 2030 biodiversity target):

• Small wins, big impact: Simple changes like restoring hedgerows and converting unused lawns to natural habitats provide an important and quick boost to natural habitat coverage.
• Focus on the less productive areas. Prioritise less productive areas to convert to natural habitat e.g., wet, low-lying, or steep slopes. This has minimal disruption to core farming activities and production. Collaboration with the farm manager and board was crucial in identifying these areas and getting buy-in.‍
• Look for digital solutions: Farm Zero C has developed a cutting-edge habitat mapping tool to make informed decisions about further habitat swaps. This tool uses satellite imagery to identify areas with the most habitat enhancement potential.

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Reducing emissions: (27% carbon reduction already achieved):

• Harness local abundance: 60% of Ireland is covered in grass. Farm Zero C are introducing a green biorefinery, to press and process their excess perennial ryegrass to create a "press cake". Compared to cows fed silage, press cake can lead to a 15-25% decrease in nitrogen emissions from manure whilst improving production. Press cake is just one of the outputs, others include bio-based food packaging, flavours, anti-microbials, fertiliser and energy. These are great income diversification opportunities for grassland farmers.
• Identify win-win solutions: Growing multi-species swards, a combination of grasses and legumes like red and white clover, can help to enhance soil sequestration and reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers. In Farm Zero C’s case, they saw a 50% reduction in chemical fertiliser use.

• Context is king: Consider solutions alongside your local context. For example, while methane mitigation feed additives show promise at reducing methane emissions, their effectiveness actually proved limited in Irish conditions. This was because the cattle is pasture-fed for most of the year (8-9 months) making dosing of the methane mitigation feed supplement challenging. The team are currently researching a feed additive for the Irish grazing system. Other challenges included:

- Short-lived effect: The effect only lasts 3-4 hours, requiring frequent dosing.

- Practical challenges: The powdered format makes precise measurement difficult.

- Cost vs. benefit: At the high price tag per cow per year and with no observed production benefits, it’s not financially sustainable (especially when weighing it up against other on-farm reduction initiatives).

• Target interventions: Targeting methane and nitrous oxide emissions from stored manure (slurry) offered a more promising avenue. Applying an additive directly to the slurry lagoon led to a significant 68% reduction in emissions arising from this source. While still costly, this approach demonstrates the potential for targeted interventions to achieve substantial emission reductions. By reducing the nitrous oxide emissions, less nitrogen is lost in gaseous form from the slurry (which is a valuable fertiliser), and so the quality of the slurry is improved

Strategic slurry application timing in spring (during cool, damp conditions) also maximises nutrient uptake by the grass, minimising the need for additional fertilisers - another hack for the books.

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Farm Zero C's secret weapon? Collaboration.

“Reach out across the lines vs shouting from the sidelines” - Cian White

We know "collaboration" can feel overused. But before you tune out, Farm Zero C's success story proves its power (when done right). This project hinges on a unique partnership between academics, industry leaders, and farmers.

Here’s the key: prioritising farmer input. Farm Zero C cultivated a culture of listening and mutual learning, not preaching. From the get-go, Kevin Ahern, Shinagh Estate's Farm Manager, and his team provided invaluable on-the-ground expertise. Regular on-farm meetings ensured everyone's participation and guaranteed that solutions were practical and implementable on a real working farm (not just the board room).

Building Trust and Farmer Buy-In

The success of the farm and project hinges on collaboration. Here's their model for fostering buy-in:

• Start with the low-hanging fruit: focus on "low-hanging fruit" – practices that benefit both the farm and the environment, like converting unproductive areas. Start off with these initiatives, build trust and then approach the higher-cost initiatives.
• Focus on business value: Simply highlighting “biodiversity” won't make a compelling case. Showcase how practices like reduced fertiliser use can save costs.
• Build trust through incremental progress: Set ambitious, long-term goals. Roll these out incrementally vs all at once. Celebrate and spotlight the small wins to keep everyone engaged and motivated.
• Lead by example: Farmers learn best from each other (not city slickers - sorry folks). They host regular open days, the most recent day attracting over 600 farmers, to demonstrate their benefits and learnings firsthand.
• Program set up: Praidrig, the project manager, bridges the gap between farm and project priorities, ensuring farmers feel empowered and supported. Having a good, integrated team structure is key to driving forward and merging both ambitions.

Next step for Carbery?

Carbery is evaluating options to transform these impact reductions into a package for their customers. This can open up opportunities for price premiums on Carbery’s products, stronger customer relationships and a reputation as a forward-leaning company.

We’ve really only skimmed over the surface. Interested in learning more? Check out the Farm Zero C page.