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To date, almost 17,000 of Ireland’s dairy farms have applied to take part in the dairy assurance scheme / Donal O'Leary
The Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) was launched by Bord Bia in December 2013 and continues to be rolled out across Ireland. To date, almost 17,000 of Ireland’s dairy farms have applied to take part in the scheme. Of those 17,000 who have applied, 13,000 are fully audited and signed up.
The Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) was launched by Bord Bia in December 2013 and continues to be rolled out across Ireland. To date, almost 17,000 of Ireland’s dairy farms have applied to take part in the scheme.
Of those 17,000 who have applied, 13,000 are fully audited and signed up.
By the end of October 2016, over 20,000 carbon audits had been conducted and 13,000 farms had become certified members of the SDAS. These certified farms account for over 70% of Ireland’s dairy farms.
According to the report, since carbon audits began across dairy farms in Ireland, there has been a sustained reduction in the average carbon footprint from 1.21kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)/kg of fat and protein corrected milk in 2014 to 1.14kg in 2016.
The report says that there is much room for improvement
Quite a wide level of variation remains across dairy farms, the report adds. When outliers are removed, the general range tends to run from 0.8kg to 1.7kg CO2e/kg fat and protein corrected milk.
The report says that there is much room for improvement and if members of the dairy scheme currently behind the average progressed to the average footprint figure, it could potentially reduce emissions by over 930,000t CO2 equivalent. “Extrapolating these figures to include the remaining dairy farms that are expected to become part of the scheme in early 2017, it would result in a potential reduction of 1,000,000t CO2 equivalent,” it says.
Beef quality assurance programme
Carbon footprint assessments for beef farms were first introduced as part of Bord Bia’s Beef and Lamb Quality Assurance programme in 2011. Since then, over 117,000 farm carbon assessments have taken place on over 49,000 farms.
According to the report, the results to date show only a minor reduction in the average carbon footprint per kilo of beef liveweight. The average carbon footprint across participating farms now stands at 11.58kg of CO2e/kg of beef liveweight compared with an average of 11.59kg CO2e/kg beef in 2015.
Bord Bia says there remains “considerable scope for improvement potential in terms of sustainability performance across participating farms. In line with similar findings for 2015, if those farms participating in the beef and lamb quality assurance scheme that are currently behind the average for their production system moved to the average footprint figure, it could potentially reduce emissions by 500,000t CO2 equivalent annually.”
New beef and lamb scheme
From late February, farmers will be subject to Bord Bia’s new beef and lamb quality assurance scheme which is likely to be called the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS).
One significant change set to be introduced in the new version of the scheme will see the introduction of a one-month re-auditing period being allowed to farmers who fail their first audit.
With recent job cuts in the dairy sector, industry leaders give their perspective on employment challenges and opportunities for graduates and professionals, writes Sarah McIntosh.
This is a subscriber-only article
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