Reducing the number of dairy cows in Ireland would have a negative impact on the environment, according to Gijs Scholman from Lely.
The Dutch family owned business presented its vision for the ‘Farm of the Future’ at its headquarters in Maassluis in the Netherlands this week to mark its 75th anniversary.
Speaking at the event, Scholman, Lely’s chief commercial officer (CCO), told Agriland why he believes that climate targets can be achieved in Ireland and the Netherlands.
He also outlined why, in his opinion, the world is not going to be helped if the Irish dairy herd is reduced.
Scholman said: “We do a bad job for the world if you remove cows from Ireland and they move somewhere else.”
He said that Irish dairy is produced in a highly efficient way and if cows are removed from Ireland, more cows will be needed to produce the same amount of dairy products in a less efficient way elsewhere.
“For the Netherlands, we believe that the solution will be slightly less cow numbers, but a lot more innovation.
“It is cheaper, more humane and better for the world.”
According to Scholman, Ireland is a growing market for Lely, particularly for its products that support climate measures and ammonia reduction on farms.
He believes the success of Lely in Ireland is due to a combination of the products and the service and support offered by the Lely centers in Mitchelstown and Mullingar.
“It is a combination; 50% of the success is the product and 50% is the service and the support from the Lely centers.
“Together we can be successful, we can develop what we want – but if they don’t support it in the right way it is not going to work,” Scholman added.
Lely’s COO also shared his views with Agriland on the climate obligations that are currently faced by Irish and Dutch farmers, including the debate around national-size herd reductions and what impact this might have on Lely.
He said: “We are concerned for the Irish and Dutch farmers, because that is one of the biggest threats to their business.
“We are not concerned for the global market, because if the milk is not produced in Ireland or the Netherlands it will be produced somewhere else.
“That is why we try to work with politicians to show them the possibility that innovation can bring.”
During the 75th anniversary event in the Netherlands the company provided an update on the Lely Sphere, a new piece of equipment that has been shown to reduce ammonia emissions from cows in a shed by up to 77%.
According to Scholan, this high-tech equipment can play an important role on Irish grass-based farms.
He said: “The Lely Sphere is built around circular farming, so yes we reduce ammonia by 77% which is good news – but our grand objective is to close the mineral cycle on farms.
“We don’t want ammonia to go up, because we lose nitrogen. We believe by a system like Sphere, we keep the nitrogen on the farm and use it as fertiliser so less artificial fertiliser has to be brought in and we can get a more closed mineral cycle.
“In certain political environments ammonia is such a big thing, if you don’t reduce it you will be out of business.
“So yes, it will reduce ammonia quite a bit, it will depend in Ireland on how the politics will develop.
“If ammonia becomes a big thing that can be a trigger for Sphere, otherwise it will work on the sustainability side by helping to certain a circular mineral cycle.”