In 2023, the average specialist tillage farm had a total of 1.9t CO2eq/ha of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according to the Teagasc National Farm Survey for 2023, which is the latest of these reports.

Higher economic-performing farms generally had lower agricultural emissions. This may be due to a higher output per hectare. From 2021 to 2023, this figure averaged 2t CO2eq/ha.

Teagasc figures show that on average 145.8t CO2eq/ha were produced on tillage farms. However, only 26.4% of these emissions were generated from crop production, according to Teagasc. These farms were considered to be specialist tillage farms, but 57.4% of emissions came from cattle on the farm and 16.2% came from sheep.

To put the emissions figure into perspective, tillage farms had an average agricultural emissions figure of 2t CO2eq/ha from 2021 to 2023. Sheep farms had a figure of 4t CO2eq/ha, cattle had 4.5t CO2eq/ha and dairy had 9.6t CO2eq/ha.

On average, specialist tillage farms produced 0.21t CO2eq/ha of energy emissions. Interestingly, energy emissions were higher on the more profitable farms. This may be due to more passes of machinery or due to pulling heavy machinery, but it is not clear why. Energy emissions were higher on tillage farms than sheep and cattle, but energy emissions were highest on dairy farms.

Nutrient efficiency

Ammonia emissions totalled 0.87t on the average tillage farm. Some 47.8% of these emissions were related to cattle rearing, 5% were related to tillage production and the remaining emissions were associated with tillage.

On average, 10.7kg of nitrous oxide emissions are produced per hectare on the average specialist tillage farm.

Average ammonia emissions, nitrogen balance and phosphorus balance were all lowest on tillage farms compared to other farm types, while nitrogen use efficiency and phosphorus use efficiency were both highest on average on tillage farms compared to other farm types.

Nitrogen use efficiency

The average N surplus was 45.8kg/ha on tillage farms. The average nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) on tillage farms in 2023 was placed at 65.7%. However, there was a large range in these results with some farms hitting over 90% NUE.

The average phosphorus balance across tillage farms was 2.1kg/ha. Teagasc said that there was a large range in these figures and that better farms tended to have slightly lower phosphorus balances. The lower the balance the better. Phosphorus use efficiency was at an average of 93.8% across tillage farms.

Economics

In 2023, on average the gross output on tillage farms was €2,171/ha and the gross margin was €1,154/ha. The average family farm income was €260/ha. The range in this income was -€123/ha to €639/ha.

A total of 25% of tillage farm households were considered economically vulnerable by Teagasc. Teagasc stated that 34% of tillage farms were classified as economically viable in 2023.

Current estimates from Teagasc suggest that 56% of cereal farms earned a positive margin in 2024. The average margin was -€10/ha, while the highest was €575/ha and the lowest was -€715/ha. On 3 December, the Teagasc Outlook Report predicted a 5% increase in cereal prices for 2025.

However, the average cereal-based net margin is expected to be negative on approximately 30% of specialist tillage farms.

It should be noted farmers have been able to increase winter cereal area this year and these crops look good at present, which should help to improve margins.

Paying for low footprint

The low carbon footprint of Irish tillage farms needs to be recognised.

This year saw major research on the carbon footprint of 48 farms released by Teagasc in conjunction with Tirlán, that showed many Irish grains are carbon neutral or can even help to store carbon where straw is chopped, for example. There has to be some value on the low carbon footprint and the efficient use of fertilisers on Irish tillage farms. If this was marketed right, then a premium could be paid for Irish grain to produce low carbon drinks, dairy or meat products.

The development of the AgNav tool by Teagasc, Bord Bia and the ICBF should help with this. It measures the carbon footprint of farms. The AgNav tool is currently being developed for tillage farms.

This should help to allow the carbon footprint of grain to be added to livestock farms’ carbon footprint calculations.