Image: Aoife McCarthy/rocketclips/Stock.adobe.com
Project director at GlasPort Bio Dr Aoife McCarthy discusses how Ireland’s agriculture sector will have a bright future, if the industry remains open-minded and environmentally conscious.
For GlasPort Bio project director Dr Aoife McCarthy, Ireland’s agricultural sector has immense potential, if it takes advantage of educational opportunities, new technologies and efforts to minimise the effects of the climate crisis.
For McCarthy, STEM and the innovations it produces, lie at the core of every industry, as she explained, “STEM is all around us”. Studying STEM subjects enables people to “understand our world a little better and to enjoy it more”.
An appreciation for science, particularly biology and chemistry, has been a constant in McCarthy’s life. Throughout her secondary school and third-level education, where she completed a BSc in chemistry at the University of Galway, to R&D internships with companies such as Procter & Gamble that took her skills to the UK and the US.
Upon the completion of a PhD in inorganic chemistry, McCarthy found her talents where applicable to a wide variety of roles within the STEM sphere and she was employed across a number of science and engineering fields, for example adhesives, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, teaching, wastewater engineering, third-level education, venture capital, and most recently a position at agricultural research SME GlasPort Bio.
“You are not confined to a set career, your STEM background can be applied to a range of professions, roles and experiences,” she said.
For her, this is indicative of the perpetual and essential evolution of STEM careers, the impact of which should not be understated. “Although the world is a large place, skills in STEM are globally recognised and universal”, she said, further noting how despite a change in the attitudes towards agriculture, there is room for the increased incorporation of technologies on commercial farms.
Science and sustainable farming
McCarthy noted there are currently “1.4bn tonnes of slurry stored annually in the EU”, resulting in greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia emissions, odorous emissions and a loss of valuable nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and carbon. “This reduces the effectiveness of the onward use of slurry as a fertiliser and energy feedstock,” she said.
But there are technologies and methods that the farming sector could adopt to work against harmful contributors to the climate crisis. McCarthy suggests for example, her work at GlasPort Bio on GasAbate, a recently completed manure treatment project, with domestic and international trial runs funded by the European Commission, that saw a reduction of harmful emissions of up to 80pc.
“GasAbate, when applied to stored slurries, acts to halt these losses by more than 80pc in commercial trials, trapping the valuable nutrients which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere,” explained McCarthy.
“The increased renewable energy production from treated slurries was found to be more than 37pc in dairy and more than 100pc in swine trials” which could be a “game-changer for farmers, who often have to supplement their manure with other energy feedstocks.”
For McCarthy, finding a balance between the farming sector and STEM is crucial, as the results are mutually beneficial. Technologies such as GasAbate can improve farming feasibility “allowing increased agricultural production and employment without a rise in GHG emissions or carbon leakage, thereby supporting rural communities”.
Changing attitudes
Excited about developments and changing attitudes in the sector, McCarthy believes that “the farming community is open to new technologies and techniques”, citing community and knowledge transfer events, which have focused on issues such as sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and improved animal welfare.
However, despite the positive changes in the mentality around farming and sustainable practices, McCarthy noted there is and will likely always be an urgent need for “continued support for new technologies and enhanced governmental incentives to promote adoption”.
“Governmental agencies such as SEAI, SFI, DAFM and Teagasc are good sources of information,” she said. “Keep an open mind, learn about new technologies and techniques, and do not jump to conclusions without knowing the facts or finding out for yourself,” she advises.
Ireland’s agricultural scene is open-minded, eager to embrace new means of existing with the environment and focused on minimising the damaging effects of climate inaction, but for McCarthy, the country still requires “widespread education on the means of achieving gaseous emission reductions and a circular economy”.
For change to be truly achieved and adopted in a manner that can realise genuine improvements “information is key”, particularly on the technological advancements in manure treatment, energy production and agricultural practices. According to McCarthy, this is how “any unknown is removed and change accepted”.
Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
