Teagasc – the Agriculture and Food Development Authority – is the national body providing integrated research, advisory and training services to the agriculture and food industry and rural communities. Mission of Teagasc is to support science-based innovation in the agri-food sector and wider bioeconomy so as to underpin profitability, competitiveness and sustainability. Teagasc’s centre in Johnstown Castle is Ireland’s leading research institute on soils and environment related research, and conducts both fundamental and applied research on a wide range of subjects, e.g. soil quality, nutrient efficiency, water quality, gaseous emissions, agro-ecology, and land use. Johnstown Castle has many different laboratory, greenhouse and field facilities to support research as well as 190 hectares of farmland.
SHORT DESCRIPTION
ROLE IN DAIRYMIX
Teagasc is leading WP2 and T2.1 in particular, characterizing cropping systems, carbon and nutrient flows in DairyMix case studies. Teagasc coordinates with all partners on farm selection and data collection and establishes a baseline C footprint/ha at farm scale using IPCC based methodology. Teagasc also contributes to T2.2 by provision of Irish data for further analysis. Additionally, Teagasc in collaboration with UCD supervise a PhD student who deploys OTICE system on at least one farm in Ireland and carries out concentration and emission monitoring from animal housing and manure storage, therefore contributing to T2.4.
Teagasc contributes to WP3, collaborating to modelling and deep data analysis and providing co-supervision, technical assistance, access to experimental and partner farms, equipment and laboratory resources to the PhD student in UCD. It also leads T4.2 and contributes to the remaining WP4 tasks through sharing of collected data and use of economic models to assess the costs and benefits of crop diversification and its impacts on milk production costs.