Evaluating the impacts of grass management technologies on the environmental and economic sustainability of Irish pasture-based dairy farms

Grass management technologies (grass measuring devices and grassland management decision support tools) have the potential to significantly improve the economic and environmental sustainability of dairy systems by increasing milk production through enhanced pasture growth and utilisation. Despite their potential, there is a lack of empirical research around the effects of these technologies on the performance of pasture-based dairy systems. The present study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by using a nationally representative survey of Irish dairy farms and a Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach to determine the effects of adopting grass management technologies on the physical, environmental and financial performance of Irish pasture-based dairy farms. The results showed that dairy farms that adopted grass management technologies had higher use of grazed pasture, longer grazing season, higher milk yield, lower greenhouse gas emissions per kg of output, higher gross output and gross margin compared to non-adopter dairy farms. However, when controlling for selection bias we could only attribute a positive causal effect of grass management technology adoption on the use of grazed pasture and milk yield. This might be due to data limitations, dairy farmers not yet using the technologies to their full potential or because grass management technologies need to be adopted in association with other technologies and practices to achieve their expected performance outcomes.