From farm to fork: how Teagasc’s research covers the entire food system

Teagasc’s wide-ranging research activities cover the entire food system, from farm to fork and beyond. “We look at the entire system of how food is produced, including processing, soil health, animal welfare and so on,” says Teagasc director of research Frank O’Mara. “That’s the point of the UN Food System Summit. We treat it as a full system, not bits in isolation.”

The journey starts with the soil. “Healthy soil is able to support crops, be that grass, vegetables, wheat, or whatever,” says O’Mara. “Soil quality and health are two very important areas for us.”

One aspect of that is the soil microbiome. “We have expanded our research into understanding the microbes in the soil. We don’t want greenhouse gas and nitrous oxide emissions. We want soils that sequestrate and store carbon. Soil is our biggest reservoir of carbon, and it can extract it from the atmosphere. It is estimated that agricultural soils in Ireland store 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2. That’s equivalent to 30 times total annual emissions from Ireland. We want to make sure carbon doesn’t get released from the soil and that we can put more in there. That’s a big facet of our soil research.”

And healthy soils produce good crop yields. “Our main crop in Ireland is grass which is mainly used for feeding livestock. We also grow an amount of cereal for use in animal feed, drinks production and so on. Horticultural crops like potatoes and sprouts and so on form a small but still important part of the system.”

There is a circular element to the system. “A healthy system incorporates both animals and crops,” O’Mara explains. “If you don’t have crops, you have to import animal feed. If you have no animals, you will have waste. If you take crops used for brewing, for example, there is a residue of about 30 per cent. Where does it go? It’s used in animal feed.”

Pests

And Ireland has a very good climate for crops. “We have a temperate climate which is not too hot with plenty of moisture. We can get some of the highest yields in the world, but we get a lot of pests and disease as well. A critical area of research is treatment of disease and pests with a lot less chemical control agents. We look at changes in generations of pathogens and how they develop resistance to control agents. One example is aphids. We use DNA samples to detect if they are developing resistance to control agents.

“It’s exactly the same with rhynchosporium in crops,” he adds. “We are looking at that and the ability of crops to resist attack. We have a very strong molecular genetics programme for that.”

The next area is animal production. “At a high level, what we are trying to do is develop sustainable systems which are resilient and cope with stresses like drought and climate change. We have a grass-based system of livestock production which is very successful. Our cows do very well on the system with relatively low levels of disease. On top of that, there is a high priority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture including methane emissions from ruminants. We are looking at things like feed additives and different forages to reduce emissions.”

And there are provable benefits from the grass-fed system in terms of nutrition and sensory aspects. “We have been able to prove that some of the healthier components are there in higher amounts in grass-fed beef and dairy products,” he points out. “Bord Bia has developed a grass-fed standard to capitalise on it and there is real science to back it up.”

Almost inevitably, Brexit has had an impact on research activity. “We need to future-proof the industry. For example, we are looking at diversification opportunities for cheese and exploring the development of cheeses that might suit the Chinese pallet. The other area is the prepared consumer foods sector. This is very closely linked to the British market, and we are supporting the industry in reformulating products for other markets. We are also helping companies get on top of things like new labelling requirements, reducing additives and so on.”

World leader

And then there is the impact of diet on our health. “Ireland has great strength in the study of the gut microbiome with the APC Microbiome SFI Research Centre at UCC being a world leader in the field. We are working with them on ways to ensure that food has a good impact on our microbiome as there is a strong link between it and our physical and mental health. Other exciting areas include the use of advanced technologies to improve the functionality of food ingredients and the bioprocessing of plant proteins to create new vegetarian and vegan food products.”

Tying much of this together is behavioural research. “Teagasc is interested in getting farmers to implement best practice,” O’Mara notes. “Quite often we think we have developed something that will save money, reduce emissions and increase output but find there is quite a low take-up among farmers. We are doing research into the factors that motivate farmers or influence them when it comes to taking on new technologies and systems. The human element is very important.”