AgriSearch has annouced that it is investing over £400K,000 into its flagship GrassCheck programme over the next three years.
Announcing the new investment AgriSearch’s general manager Jason Rankin said:
“Over the last 23 years the GrassCheck programme has been fundamental in assisting ruminant livestock farmers maximise returns from grazed grass.
“This initiative has monitored year-on-year variations in grass growth providing valuable information to both farmers and policy makers during this time.
“With fertiliser prices more than tripling, and concentrate prices doubling for many farmers, the benefits of efficiently utilising high-quality grass has never been so important in operating a sustainable and profitable farming system.
Grazed grass and grass silage remain the dominant and cheapest forage source in Northern Ireland, occupying an estimated 93% of the total farmed area.
However, making efficient use of grassland takes careful management and can be challenging in some instances.
The weather extremes experienced in recent years has highlighted the variability in grass growing conditions across the province.
AgriSearch said that by incorporating farm data from across the province these varying conditions can be better monitored and understood.
Rankin added that grassland also has an important role in sequestering carbon. Work conducted over the past 50 years at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) Hillsborough has shown that well managed grassland can sequester over 800kg of carbon/ha/year.
“However, we recognise that these are changing times for agriculture and that GrassCheck needs to adapt to these challenges,” he said.
“The next phase of GrassCheck will seek to expand grass growth monitoring to include swards containing significant levels of clover and using low levels of manufactured nitrogen fertiliser.
“We are also planning to conduct baseline assessment on soil carbon across the GrassCheck network.”
