1. Presentation to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine Dr Helen Sheridan Dr Paul Murphy School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin 1

2. Challenges facing Agriculture FH2020 (national roadmap) Convention on Biodiversity 1992 Birds Directive (79/409/EEC as amended 2009/43/EC) Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) EIA Directive (85/337/EEC) Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) Agri-Environment Regulation (2078/92/EEC) EU 2020 Greenhouse gas targets

3. Agri-Baseline – Summary of Farm Habitat Incidence 3

4. 4

5. Hennessy et al. (2013) Dependence of Irish Farmers on Direct Payments 5

6. Grassland Field Margins 2001 Walsh Fellowship funding – PhD student – Reintroduce botanical diversity – Management measures to facilitate persistence Treatments – Fencing – Rotavation and natural regeneration – Reseeding with a grass and wild flower mix Width and grazing 2006 Research Stimulus funding - PhD student 2012 Walsh Fellowship Funding – MSc student

7. Grassland Field Margin Botanical Results Sheridan et al. (2008) Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 123, 225-232. Sheridan et al. (2009) Biology and Environment, 109B, 2, 91-102. Sheridan et al. (2009) Ecology, Management and Restoration. Nova publishers, USA. Fritch, Sheridan et al. (2011) Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 551-560. Anderson, McCormack, Helden, Sheridan, Kinsella, Purvis (2011). Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 382-390.

8. Finn, et al. (2013)

10. 143 kg N/ha http://www.interregdairyman.eu/en/dairyman.htm Mihailescu E, Murphy PNC, Ryan W, Casey IA & Humphreys J 2014. Nitrogen balance and use efficiency on twenty-one intensive grass-based dairy farms in the South of Ireland. The Journal of Agricultural Science. doi:10.1017/S0021859614000045 10

11. 500 400 300 200 100 0 N Surplus (kg N/ha) Milk Production (l/ha) 0 5,000 10,000 15,00020,000 25,000 Management Buckley C, Murphy PNC & Wall D. Farm-gate N and P balances and use efficiencies across specialist dairy farms in the Republic Ireland. Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme, Working Paper 13-WP-RE-02 http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/rerc/downloads/workingpapers/13wpre02.pdf Farm A Farm B 11

12. Melland AR, Mellander P-E, Murphy PNC, Wall DP, Mechan S, Shine O, Shortle G & Jordan P 2012. Stream water quality in intensive cereal cropping catchments with regulated nutrient management. Environmental Science and Policy 24, 58-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.06.006 Arable A Arable B P loss in stream (kg/ha/yr) Well drained soil Poorly drained soil Catchment area (%) Soil P Index 12

13. FH2020, GHGs and Water Quality FH2020 targets and GHG/Water Quality targets can be achieved, in principle Management is key- Better Management Practices (BMPs) Land use and land and nutrient management Management determines fate of nutrients- taken up in crop/animal or lost to the environment Policies need to encourage BMPs NAP / Nitrates Regulations Integrated Catchment/Landscape Management Advisory, Education, Knowledge Transfer Better Farms, Discussion Groups, SmartFarms Need to be able to get credit for improvements- inventories and product labelling Emission estimates based on simple measures of intensity can be misleading One size does not fit all 13