Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

271 Chapter 10: Environment and Agriculture Research supporting the transition to a more environmentally friendly agri-food sector Significant research is under way nationally to provide the evidence base to support the changes in policy and action that are needed to deliver a sustainable agri-food sector. In recent years, the EPA has funded more than 40 projects of relevance to agriculture, with a total value of more than €10 million. These have included several peatland- related projects on rewetting, water table management, carbon sequestration and methane emissions in organic agricultural soils (e.g. WET-PEAT, CO2PEAT and PEATCH4); a number of projects on soils and soil health (e.g. MUCKISOILS, AMRSOIL, TellSoilBio and MMeSH); several projects supporting the development of agricultural emissions inventories with Ireland-specific data and emissions factors and impacts on air quality, (such as AIRN2K, ENCORE and IMAGE); and projects looking to agriculture and land use under future climate scenarios (e.g. WaterFutureS, SeQUEsTER and LandingZoNES). In addition, the EPA has funded significant research to support policy and action from the agriculture sector to improve water quality, including tools and models that are subsequently used in house for EPA assessments. DAFM awarded close to €25 million of funding for research projects on a range of topics under the banner of sustainable management of natural resources over the period 2010–2021. A further €24 million in research grants was announced at the end of 2023 to support 20 projects across the agri-food, forestry and bioeconomy sectors. Some key examples of relevant projects in recent years include the development of the greenhouse gas and ammonia MACCs and supporting projects; PASTURE- NUE and FaSTEN, which are aiming to improve nitrogen use on farms; and a project on multi-species swards (Multi4More). The Teagasc Agricultural Catchments Programme, which was established in 2008 to assess the water quality outcomes of the Nitrates Action Programme, is now in its fifth phase. The organisation’s research programme has expanded to reflect the increasing need to improve water quality and reduce greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions while increasing soil carbon sequestration. The Teagasc agri-environmental research programme is ongoing but was given a renewed focus in 2023 with the establishment of a virtual National Climate Centre. The objective of the centre is to coordinate climate research and innovation and to lead the agri-food sector to climate neutrality in 2050. There will be a focus on bringing in new technologies to support that objective to deployment stage.