Glanbia Ireland launches €18m Sustainability Action Payment for family farms

The programme is designed to assist dairy suppliers in reducing their carbon footprint, enhancing water quality and biodiversity and improving air quality and soil health in line with Glanbia Ireland’s sustainability strategy, Living Proof.

As part of this initiative, dairy suppliers will receive 0.5 cent per litre (cpl) (including VAT) through delivering specific sustainability actions. This will equate to almost €3,000 in 2022 for the average supplier. Across the lifetime of this three-year programme, over €54 million in total will be made available to family farms as they continue to adopt a range of actions. 

The measures are closely aligned with the climate action measures identified in Teagasc’s emissions reduction Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) climate plan.

Glanbia Co-op Chairman John Murphy said: “Irish farmers are renowned for producing high quality dairy products with world leading natural credentials. Our farmers are proud of their family farms and want to protect them for the next generation.

“We all have a role to play in climate action, water and biodiversity protection and air quality enhancement. It is important that our family farms are assisted as they continue to enhance the environmental and economic sustainability of their farms.

“This initiative is designed to reward suppliers for adopting a series of measures identified as key to delivering on our comprehensive sustainability strategy, Living Proof. As part of this initiative, there is a strong framework of measures for farmers to implement with verifiable proof-points.”

As part of Living Proof, Glanbia Ireland, along with our family farms, has pledged to deliver a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with each litre of milk produced by 2030 and has signed up to the internationally-recognised Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). All of Glanbia Ireland’s dairy suppliers are accredited to the Bord Bia Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS).

Key Measures

The Sustainability Action Payment will be made to all suppliers that deliver any seven sustainability actions from a total of 16 options. The initiative will run from January 2022 for a three-year period. Delivery of the actions will be verified by a combination of Glanbia Ireland records and through the Bord Bia SDAS programme.

For 2022, the first year of the programme, all suppliers will receive the payment in full. To qualify for the 2023 payment suppliers need to begin implementing their on-farm sustainability actions in 2022.

Dairy suppliers will be required to select from a series of options, which includes measures aimed at:

• Reducing carbon emissions by utilising multi-species swards and clover; measuring grass growth, improving the herd Economic Breeding Index (EBI) to deliver lower GHG emissions; milk recording and opting for FarmGen renewable energy generation;
• Improving air quality through use of Low Emissions Slurry Spreading (LESS) equipment and the use of Protected Urea;
• Supporting biodiversity by planting additional native trees and increasing hedgerows;
• Protecting soil health and water quality through nutrient management planning; delivering ASSAP water quality improvement plans and water protection measures;
• Supporting animal health and welfare by herd disease screening; improving udder health and participating in the innovative Twenty20 Beef Club.

Glanbia Ireland Chief Executive Jim Bergin said: “We believe that by working together, through support and education, we can continue to adopt changes in practices that deliver real environmental impact. As an organisation, we are firmly committed to working with our farmers to implement proven technologies and practices that will benefit the environmental performance of our suppliers’ family farms, as set out in our Living Proof strategy. We will continue to actively seek out leading edge technologies to further support our family farms in their endeavours.”