Ulster Grassland Society (UGS) president, John Egerton, has confirmed the key role that soil management will play on farms in delivering a more sustainable future for agriculture.
The Co. Fermanagh suckler beef and sheep farmer spoke at the recent Northern Ireland Institute of Agricultural Science (NIIAS) conference.
Egerton said: “Science will play a key role in shaping the future of farming, and, yes, climate change is a reality.
“In my own case, I have been measuring rainfall levels for almost a decade. The figures show that total precipitation levels across a 12-month period have remained the same. But, the pattern of rainfall is changing.
“Last year, July was the wettest month on the farm – it should have been the driest.”
Survey work carried out on the Egerton farm has confirmed the vast stores of carbon that are contained within the soils, relative to those making up the inventory for the trees and hedgerows.
“We now know that heavier clay soils are very significant repositories of carbon. So, managing our soils effectively will be crucially important as we look to the future,” the president continued.
According to Egerton, soil carbon levels must be accurately assessed on a five yearly basis in order to quantify the actual levels of carbon dioxide they are actually sequestering from the atmosphere.
“Getting a base line figure for coil carbon stocks is important. The real game changer for farmers will be that of knowing how much additional carbon their soils are removing from the atmosphere.
“These figures can then be included within an accurate carbon inventory for individual farming business. I will be fully committing to have my own soil carbon levels accurately assessed on a regular basis,” he added.
Teagasc director, Prof. Frank O’Mara, also spoke at the conference. He indicated that mineral grassland soils have the capacity to sequester up to 0.6t of carbon/ha/annum.
“This figure is a working estimate. Research is ongoing, aimed at finding out just how much carbon is sequestered on an annual basis.
“The actual figure may be above the current estimate. However, we do know that the carbon sequestration impact of soil is cumulative in nature,” O’Meara said.
However, this principle is only relevant to mineral soils.
“In the case of peat soils, their degradation can lead to significant quantities of carbon dioxide being returned to the atmosphere. And, in this context, we can be talking up to 20t of carbon per hectare.
“So, yes, managing our soils effectively will be critically important as agriculture faces up to the challenge of climate change,” the Teagasc director added.