Welcome to BEEF2024
Professor Frank O'Mara, Director of Teagasc, welcomes attendees to the BEEF2024 Open Day today, Wednesday, 26th June in Teagasc, Grange, Co. Meath.
I am delighted to welcome you to BEEF2024, our biennial beef open day, at Teagasc Grange. The theme of BEEF2024 is ‘Securing your future’ reflecting the multiple challenges, and also opportunities, facing the beef sector at present.
The beef sector is one of the most important contributors to the national economy in Ireland, supporting in excess of 70,000 beef farmers with an export value of approximately €2.7 billion. In addition to supporting farm families and intermediate suppliers and services within the sector, the beef industry makes a critical contribution to employment in the processing, distribution and transport sectors in predominantly rural areas. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in securing a vibrant rural economy. Moreover, beef farming is a core element of rural societies with an associated tradition and culture that can be seen on family farms throughout the country.
The strength of the sector lies in its pasture-based production systems, the exploitation of which not only helps to drive profitability but also underpins its strong sustainability credentials. The important management practices pertaining to efficient grassland management, excellent beef genetics and high herd health status continue to be key to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of the Irish beef sector. It is these principles that will maximise profitability and ensure the sector is best-placed to meet the increased global demand for sustainable, high-quality food protein in the form of grass-fed beef. At BEEF2024 we will showcase the latest research in these respective areas and highlight recent advances that further improve the efficiency and profitability of beef cattle farming. The event is organised so that the predominant form of engagement will be by means of demonstrations, live displays and interactive exhibits within our ‘technology villages’.
Like all other enterprises, there is an urgent need for the beef sector to address consumer and policy demands for food with low environmental impacts. There is clear evidence that beef produced in grass-based systems of the type that predominate in Ireland has amongst the lowest environmental impact of beef systems globally. We are working from a position of strength; however, there are still opportunities for improvement. Fortunately, most of the management practices and technologies that have been identified to reduce the environmental impact of beef systems, also improve profitability. For example, reducing finishing age can lead to sharp reductions in lifetime methane emissions, our most significant greenhouse gas, while concurrently improving profitability by reducing feed costs. Importantly, beef carcass output can be almost entirely maintained as evidenced by the progress made nationally in the past decade. Likewise, efficient nutrient management, for example, by optimum timing of manure use and using low emissions slurry spreading technologies, reduces the requirement to purchase much more expensive inorganic forms of fertiliser, again positively benefitting both environmental and financial performance. So, while there are challenges posed by the increased environmental demands being placed on the sector, these demands can also lead to opportunities and, ultimately, a more secure and profitable future for the beef farming sector.
Securing the future of the beef sector is very tightly intertwined with developing clear pathways to farm succession. Teagasc recently updated its guide to transferring the family farm and later this year there will be a series of ‘Transferring the family farm clinics’ throughout the country. The age profile of the beef sector indicates that succession and inheritance will be particularly important topics for the sector in the coming years. Given the challenging farm income situation within the sector, it is likely that many potential successors will operate beef farms of the future in parallel with off-farm employment. For that reason, labour efficiency within the sector is crucial. These issues will be explored at BEEF2024 both in our technology villages and on our panel forums.
Today’s event is being held at our national research centre at Grange. Additional investment in beef research is planned for our research site at Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford where, in addition to a sizable dairy calf-to-beef research herd, we are developing an organic beef research programme. The enclosed farm unit at Kildavin in Johnstown Castle is currently undergoing organic conversion and the research programme there will commence in late 2024 with complementary finishing studies at Grange. We continue to develop our wider beef programme across the advisory and education programmes. Our beef demonstration programmes - the Future Beef Programme focused on suckler beef and the DairyBeef 500 Campaign – will have a prominent role in BEEF2024. Both programmes sit within the wider Signpost programme highlighting our commitment to developing and deploying management practices that benefit the environment and farm economics, along with our valued partners in those programmes.
I would like to thank our sponsors FBD Insurance for their generous support for this open day. I would also like to thank industry partners who will join us today, highlighting the collaborative nature of the beef sector.
So all in all, there are many important and interesting topics for beef farmers that will be discussed at the Open Day, and I hope that you find the day enjoyable, informative and fulfilling.
Information from the day, including papers, videos and boards will be made available here