Monday, 28 February, 2022
Researchers: Associate Professor Helen Sheridan, Professor Tommy Boland, Professor Olaf Schmidt, Associate Professor Bridget Lynch, Assistant Professor Paul Murphy
Summary
Agricultural systems that depend on high levels of chemicals, like nitrogen fertilisers, are not sustainable, nor are they socially acceptable. By investigating new types of grasslands that include different species of grasses, legumes and forage herbs, the SmartGrass project has started a national shift in grassland farming, enhancing productivity while also protecting the environment and climate.
Research by the SmartGrass team has provided a new tool for farmers and policymakers to address many agri-environmental challenges. The findings of SmartGrass have influenced a rapidly increasing number of farmers to sow these “multispecies swards”, helping to reduce their reliance on nitrogen fertilisers, support biodiversity, and protect the wider environment.
Research description
Perennial ryegrass (PRG) has been the grass species of choice on farms in Ireland and other temperate areas for about the last 60 years. There are good reasons for this: it can produce high yields of good quality feed for livestock, it is persistent, and it recovers quickly following grazing. However, its performance is heavily dependent on high levels of nitrogen fertiliser. This brings many environmental concerns, including excessive energy use, climate impacts, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. It is also a very significant economic cost to farmers. For all of these reasons, continued reliance on high levels of fertiliser nitrogen is no longer sustainable or socially acceptable.
To address this, the SmartGrass project (2013-2018) explored the potential of grassland made up of new combinations of grasses, legumes and forage herbs. Grasslands like these are known as “multispecies swards” (MSS). Research at UCD Lyons Farm compared different plots of grassland, some sown with PRG and others with different combinations of species, to determine which produce the most herbaceous vegetation, which require the least nitrogen fertiliser, which foster the most biodiversity, and which best support the health and growth of animals grazing on it.
The SmartGrass project showed that multi-species swards can yield as much good quality herbage as PRG alone, while requiring less than half the amount of nitrogen fertiliser. This reduced dependence on nitrogen fertiliser decreases the likelihood that it will be lost to the surrounding environment. For example, the team modelled estimates of emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (based on sward yield and the type, quantity and timing of nitrogen fertiliser applied), and found potential emissions reductions of up to 90% compared with PRG swards.
Furthermore, lambs grazing on MSS performed better and were healthier. They reached their target slaughter weights about two weeks earlier and had fewer parasitic worms, thus requiring about 50% less worm treatment than those grazing on PRG. Multi-species swards were also found to support greater biodiversity – both above and below ground – when compared with PRG swards.
Findings from the SmartGrass project have addressed many societal concerns regarding the environmental sustainability of livestock production systems, while not compromising the productivity of these systems.
The challenge to find new ways for agriculture to be environmentally sustainable while also protecting the economic sustainability of farmers is encapsulated through the research projects SmartGrass and SmartSward.
—Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Research impact
Environmental and political impact
SmartGrass was the first nationally funded research project to investigate the potential of MSS, with the objective of developing a novel “Low Input – High Output” grassland system. Almost all Irish agricultural grassland research in recent decades has focused on PRG-based “High Input – High Output” systems. Findings from the SmartGrass project, coupled with the team’s ongoing research, have given farmers a way to make their livestock systems more sustainable. In doing so, these findings address environmental policy commitments required from the agricultural sector.
As described above, modelled estimates of nitrous oxide emissions indicated the potential for a very significant reduction by using multispecies swards. Combined with methane reductions associated with earlier animal slaughter, this can make a significant contribution to meeting the 22-30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions required from Irish agriculture by 2030 under the (opens in a new window)National Climate Action Plan.
The EU’s (opens in a new window)Farm to Fork Strategy requires countries to reduce reliance on fertilisers by at least 20% by 2030. Findings from the SmartGrass project show this is achievable for grass-based systems. MSS are also a good example of the type of practice change highlighted as necessary in the (opens in a new window)EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, to address concerns about the loss of biodiversity due to intensive agricultural practices.
I have been sowing multispecies swards on my milking platform for the last 4 years as a result of meeting Helen and seeing her research at UCD Lyons. MSS are improving my soil health, reducing my N use, they are growing better (for me) during dry periods and are helping (I feel) with animal health.
—Mr Joseph Leonard, dairy farmer and Nuffield Scholar
In 2017, a SmartGrass workshop for policymakers and industry representatives helped move these impacts forward. Consequently, the team’s findings were presented at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) symposium on the “Role of Sustainable Grassland in Foodwise 2025”, and were also disseminated to 3,000 of the Department’s personnel via video for Science Week 2018 as “a case study of research having a real impact on DAFM’s policy thinking”.
SmartGrass findings have been highlighted by Minister Ryan during a Dáil debate on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development on 10 June 2020. In addition, the (opens in a new window)Programme for Government 2020 included a commitment to “encourage better grassland management and support the use of clover and other mixed species in grass reseeding”. The potential of MSS to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is recognised in the (opens in a new window)Climate Change Advisory Council Report 2019 and in the DAFM (opens in a new window)Ag-Climatise Strategy.
In 2021, MSS were also included in the DAFM (opens in a new window)Results Based Environment-Agri Pilot Programme, a scheme which offers farmers financial rewards for farming in a more environmentally friendly way. Furthermore, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD, announced that financial aid to support farmers planting multispecies swards would be included in the Department’s 2022 budget commitments.
Growing interest in MSS is evidenced by the team receiving more than 40 requests for presentations to farmers and industry representatives. The growing interest has translated into an 8-fold increase in MSS seeds sales in 2020-21 compared with the previous 5 years (data from Thomas Moloney of DLF Seeds).
Academic and educational impact
The academic impact of SmartGrass is apparent from the increasing number of large-scale research sites now investigating MSS. Among these, a project called (opens in a new window)SmartSward continues UCD’s leading role, having been established on the “Long-Term Grazing Platform” at UCD Lyons Farm, a participating site in the (opens in a new window)Global Farm Platform.
Project team members are now involved in several other projects that build on the work of SmartGrass. These include Green Lamb (on UCD Lyons Farm), FaSTEN (lead by Teagasc) and HeartLand (on the Devenish Lands at Dowth). The latter is a collaboration between Devenish Nutrition, UCD, and the University of Wageningen, Netherlands. Each of these projects will deepen our understanding of MSS and their role in improving the sustainability of livestock production systems. In addition, Teagasc have also recently established MSS at several of their Research Centre Farms.
Two PhDs and one postdoc completed their research on the SmartGrass project. Today there are at least 12 PhD and several more MSc and BAgrSc students engaged in MSS research associated with the team. SmartGrass research also made it onto the honors Leaving Certificate Agricultural Science paper in 2021, which included a question dedicated to MSS. To the best of the team’s knowledge, this is the first time that multispecies sward material has been included in the curriculum.