There has been a lot of pressure put on the farming industry recently with regard to reducing their carbon footprint. The Irish agricultural sector is believed to be responsible for 35% of Ireland’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This is the highest level in Europe, where the average is only 11%. Because of this, demands are being made to farmers to reduce their heard numbers so as to lower methane gas emissions. Methane from farm animals is believed to be a major contributor to gas emissions in Ireland and is hugely controversial. A lot of resistance is coming from farmers in Ireland on this topic, particularly farming lobby groups such as the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).   

But reducing greenhouse gases is not simply just about reducing heard numbers. I think agricultural and horticultural machines can hugely influence the reduction of the carbon footprint for both the agricultural, horticultural and sportsturf sector. This is an area where our industry can play its part and can be done in many ways.

For example, end users of these machines should examine their machinery fleet and ask themselves is this machine too old to keep? Is it polluting the atmosphere with an inefficient engine that is burning more oil than is accepted? If the answer is ‘yes’ to this then that equipment should be replaced with one that has an engine that is more efficient and consumes less fuel. Perhaps dealers could visit their costumers and advise them on the state of their machines and, if necessary, make replacement recommendations.

Another option to become more environmentally friendly is to use as many electric vehicles as possible. This will apply mainly to the landscape and sportsturf sector, where most of these machines are sold to. Examples of these would be hedge trimmers, hover mowers, strimmers, ride on electric mowers and even robotic mowers. Using these will reduce emissions to almost zero. If the electricity used to re-charge these machines comes from a renewable energy source, such as wind and solar power, that would be even better. As more people become aware of how greenhouse gas emissions affects climate change, I think the sale of electric equipment will continue to increase throughout 2022.  

I was very impressed with a talk given by Ben Scott-Robinson at last November’s Service Dealer Conference and Awards in Oxford. He spoke about the development of robotic equipment in a farming situation. Having electric machines enter and scan a field for weeds and eliminating them prior to sowing was an eye opener for me. This new concept eliminated the need to plough and harrow the field. Just think of the amount of fuel you would save using this method. 

I believe the development of new equipment, such as those mentioned above, will take the pressure off farmers to reducing their heard numbers. Our industry can definitely play its part in allowing the agricultural sector to contribute in reducing our carbon footprint.