Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership

Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership

The LEAP Partnership was founded in 2012 and involves stakeholders across the livestock sectors, all who share an interest in improving the environmental performance of livestock supply chains. The objective is to develop comprehensive guidance and methodology for understanding the environmental performance of livestock supply chains.

Beetle Threat to Horticultural Eucalyptus

Beetle Threat to Horticultural Eucalyptus Crops in Ireland

Researchers at Teagasc and University College Dublin are investigating the biological control of a new insect pest of Irish forestry and horticulture.

Eucalyptus leaf beetle, Paropsisterna selmani has been
 found in several locations in Ireland, and is a potentially
 serious pest.

Results-based agri-environment schemes

Results-based agri-environment schemes: payments for biodiversity achievements in agriculture

The European Commission is developing a web-based platform that brings together research, information and practical experiences on results-based agri-environment schemes, i.e. schemes that focus on paying for biodiversity achievements in agriculture.

HNV research article

Photo: Caroline Sullivan

High Nature Value farming systems are important areas for biodiversity, and are a major focus of agricultural and biodiversity policy. In a Review paper in Journal of Environmental Management, Angela Lomba and colleagues identify the following highlights:

•An overview of the methodological approaches currently taken to identify HNVf is outlined.

•The inability to integrate HNVf data at varying scales across Europe is highlighted.

•The need to address data availability and spatial/temporal resolutions are highlighted.

•A novel collaborative framework to enhance HNVf monitoring and assessment is proposed. (Lomba et al. 2014).

Lomba et al. 2014. Mapping and monitoring High Nature Valuefarmlands: Challenges in European landscapes. Journal of Environmental Management  143: 140–150.

Sustainable Intensification: RISE report

Sustainable Intensification: RISE report

The Rural Investment Support for Europe (RISE) Foundation launched ‘The Sustainable Intensification of European Agriculture’ in June 2014. Here are some of the key points from the Executive Summary

My PhD thesis available online via CORA

UCC Library (University College Cork, Ireland) has been seeking permission to digitise doctoral theses and to make them available online through the UCC institutional repository. Delighted to support this great initiative by making my own thesis available online via CORA. Published in 1998, the bound copy is probably well hidden in the archives by now…

 Variability in north temperate dung beetleassemblages at different spatial and temporal scales

Finn, John A.  1998

 

Impact of BurrenLIFE: conservation of farming and wildife

The BurrenLIFE project advised on grazing management, and rectified under-grazing on many species-rich grasslands in the Burren. This work now continues with RDP support for the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme, and now covers about 46% of the Burren SAC area. 
Photo: James Moran

 

The BurrenLIFE project developed an evidence-based approach to manage species-rich grasslands, habitats and water quality as part of livestock systems in the Burren.  The project was completed in 2009, but has had a lasting impact, and featured in Teagasc's recent Research Impact Highlights (p. 5).

Participating farmers adopted management practices and grazing regimes to conserve species-rich grasslands, improve livestock production, enhance nutrient management, remove scrub, and restore stone walls.  The introduction of customised concentrate-based feeding systems led to a 61% reduction in the amount of silage fed on the project farms.  New grazing regimes resulted in a doubling in the area of grassland being grazed.  Scrub was controlled on c.100 ha of priority habitat and about 54km of animal access paths were opened or restored to aid livestock movement and herding.

One of the key success factors in the BurrenLIFE project was the support of the Burren Irish Farmer's Association (IFA) and the local farming community.  They were true partners in the project, and their leadership and championing of the project underpinned the transfer of the project's messages.

As a consequence of the BurrenLIFE project, the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme (BFCP) was launched by DAFM in 2010, providing payments to farmers of about €1,000,000 per year.  By 2013, over 14,500 ha of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) were covered by the BFCP, covering about 46% of the Burren SAC area. 

This work has directly informed the expansion of Targeted Output Based Agri Environmental Projects in the planned Irish RDP 2014-2020. This includes an expansion of the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme. 

The BurrenLIFE project was selected as one of the "Best of the Best" LIFE Nature projects in Europe in 2010, and DG Agri is using the project as an example of a successful interactive group to guide future European Innovation Partnerships. 

Further information:

BurrenLIFE website

BurrenLIFE Best Practice Guides are available for: Conservation, Heritage, Grazing, Feeding and Scrub.

BurrenLIFE Research Reports are available on the following topics:

• Forage quality of semi natural calcareous grasslands and heaths of the Burren
• BurrenLIFE Socio Economic Report

• Risk of Nutrient Export Model

• Burren Marketing and Branding Study

Scrub encroachment. BurrenLIFE paid farmers to remove scrub from priority habitats.
Photo: James Moran

 

Link to SAI: Sustainability Performance Assessment

Sustainability Performance Assessment (v2.0): Towards Consistent Measurement of Sustainability at Farm Level

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) is a food and drink company initiative supporting the development of sustainable agriculture worldwide. It brings together over 55 food and drink companies and affiliate members. More information can be found at www.saiplatform.org

Here, I provide some links to resources provided by the SAI platform.

PhD thesis online: ecosystem function in grasslands

Congratulations to Simon Taugourdeau on his PhD thesis from the Université de Lorraine:

"Effects of management and climate on the plant functional diversity related to ecosystem services of permanent grasslands in Europe"

Simon’s thesis is available online

https://filex.univ-lorraine.fr/get?k=IoINlZMXtsTjOB6W3Y9

EU project on farm sustainability: FLINT

FLINT: Farm Level Indicators for New policy Topics

Teagasc is a member of the EU FP7 FLINT project. Our role in Work Package 1 is to develop policy-relevant farm-level indicators of social, economic and environmental indicators, for implementation in a survey of a European network of about 1,000 farms.

FLINT will also provide a data-infrastructure needed by the agro-food sector and policy makers to provide up to date information on farm level indicators on sustainability and other relevant new issues. The ultimate aim is to develop a farm-level approach to collect and co-ordinate data in a way that may inform future initiatives to monitor the effects of agricutlural policies.

Better decision making will be facilitated by taking into account the sustainability performance of farms on a wide range of relevant topics, such as
(1) market stabilization;
(2) income support;
(3) environmental sustainability;
(4) climate change adaptation and mitigation;
(5) innovation; and
(6) resource efficiency.

The approach will explicitly consider the heterogeneity of the farming sector in the EU and its member states. Together with the farming and agro-food sector the feasibility of these indicators will be determined.

For further information, see the project website at FLINT

Review of legume-based grassland–livestock systems

Research article just published

Potential of legume-based grassland–livestock systems in Europe: a review

A. Lüscher, I. Mueller-Harvey, J. F. Soussana, R. M. Rees and J. L. Peyraud

Grass and Forage Science, Special Issue: Forage legumes Volume 69, Issue 2, pages 206–228, June 2014

New EU LIFE project: €5m for conservation of freshwater pearl mussel in Kerry

A new project worth over €5 million to support two local communities to help restore populations of freshwater pearl mussel in South Kerry has been announced by the European Union. Teagasc is delighted to be a partner on this project.

Freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera requires
very high water quality to survive and reproduce.

Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey

The Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey 2007-2012 by Fionnuala H. O’Neill, James R. Martin, Fiona M. Devaney & Philip M. Perrin is now available. The Executive Summary is reproduced below, and includes summary assessments of the conservation status of priority grassland habitats.

PhD summary in one sentence

As part of our Agri-Food Graduate Development Programme (AFGDP), we had a fun session about research communication.
Groups of four PhD researchers wrote a one (or two...) sentence summary of their project, and selected one to go forward to a class competition. The prize...a box of Ferraro Rocher. The outcome ... as follows:


Offal-ly good, but would you eat it? (winner)


Most of the papers I referenced I didn't read properly because we couldn't afford them.


You may never know what you eat...but if it looks good it doesn't matter.


I think there are unknown micro-organisms ... now I know there are unknown micro-organisms.


If you eat beef, you might lose your kidney.


Taking bits of foods, putting them into other foods to make superfoods.


Reduce your hypertension and avoid going to the looney bin by eating burgers.


The search for why piggy one eats less than piggy two.


Sheep eat grass and poop it out.


Antibacterial particles from packaging kill your 'good bacteria'.


To determine further the merits by which Irish dairy and beef products wear the 'green jersey'.


Enjoy meat with false teeth.


Most students turn up. Those who do, learn a lot.  (Course organisers...!)

Open Access to research article on Irish hedgerows

Read an Open Access version of the paper on T-Stór here.

Caroline Sullivan and colleagues published a paper in Volume 113, issue 2 of Biology and Environment, ‘Field boundary habitats and their contribution to the area of semi-natural habitats on lowland farms in east Galway, western Ireland'.
An Open Access reprint is available from T-Stór.



Left-A stone wall with a mature treeline in east County Galway. Right-A farmed landscape in south County Mayo with stone walls and hedgerows.

BES Guide to Peer Review for new reviewers

Guide to Peer Review in Ecology and Evolution

The British Ecological Society has produced a guide for those wishing to learn more about peer review. Although intended for ecology researchers, it is relevant to researchers across a much wider variety of disciplines.

"This booklet is intended as a guide for early career researchers, who have little or

no experience of reviewing journal articles but are interested in learning more about

what is involved. It provides a succinct overview of the many aspects of reviewing,

from hands-on practical advice about the actual review process to explaining less

tangible aspects, such as reviewer ethics."

Virtual Issue: Applied Ecology in Agricultural Systems

See my editorial in Virtual Issue in Journal of Applied Ecology
Virtual Issue: Applied Ecology in Agricultural Systems

December 2013
Agriculture is an important global human enterprise that exerts a major influence on ecosystems. Even as we work to understand and better manage biodiversity and ecosystem functioning within agri-ecosystems, both agriculture and the global context in which it operates are undergoing major change.
Read the Virtual Issue