Carbery in partnership with Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird Co-ops, has launched the next phase of its FutureProof bonus scheme that rewards farmer suppliers for adopting sustainability measures.

Carbery is increasing the sustainability fund to 1.25c/L bonus – a 25% increase on 2023 - to farmer suppliers who meet five sustainability criteria under the FutureProof initiative.

From the launch of the scheme in 2022, when a partial payment was made to all suppliers to prepare them for any investment needed to achieve this bonus, across 2023 and 2024, more than €12.2 million has been paid through FutureProof to farmers.

93% of the milk supplied to Carbery in 2024 came from farms implementing FutureProof measures.

These new measures will make a further €7.2 million available in 2025.

At the scheme's 2022 launch, Carbery emphasised that the four measures - breeding, milk recording, protected urea use, and water quality - were designed for impact and measurability.

Since then, west Cork has seen significant increases in protected urea purchases, milk recording, and economic breeding index (EBI) gains.

Since its launch, farmer shareholders implementing Futureproof measures have delivered:

In 2023 the switch to protected urea initiated by Futureproof resulted in 4,700t CO2 (carbon dioxide) per year less emissions compared to the use of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) throughout west Cork farms;
Farm-level decarbonisation of 1.2% per year through economic breeding index (EBI) improvements;
Over two years across FutureProof herds, use of protected urea and improved EBI alone have saved 5,501mt of CO2 - the equivalent to taking 1,196 cars off the road annually or 12,225 one-way passenger journeys from Dublin to New York;
70% of Carbery herds are carrying out milk recording, leading to better health, performance and efficiency from herds;
More than 1,200 Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) assessments completed.

The second phase of the scheme will see the introduction of soil fertility as a new measure in addition to the existing measures of water quality, protected urea, the EBI and milk recording.

Carbery Group chairperson, Vincent O’Donovan, said: “We are proud to see such strong participation in our FutureProof scheme, reflecting our farmers' dedication to addressing the environmental challenges we all face.

"With 93% of our milk supply sourced from farmers applying FutureProof measures, this initiative has proven to be an essential programme to safeguard the future of our industry," he added.

Carbery Group CEO, Jason Hawkins commented: “We have always been clear on the need to support farmers in their move to more sustainable farming methods.

"FutureProof is how we have done this and we are delighted with the success of the scheme to date.

"As we move into the next phase of the FutureProof bonus scheme, we want to enable west Cork dairy farmers to lead in sustainable farming practices.

"By incorporating soil fertility as a key focus area, we aim to address the most critical factors that will further reduce emissions, improve and protect soil health and enhance water quality," he added.

The key measures for phase two of Futureproof in 2025 are:

Milk recording: Suppliers are to continue milk recording at least four times a year;
Protected urea: Co-ops will continue subsidising protected urea, which reduces nitrous oxide emissions compared to CAN and lowers ammonia losses compared to urea on grassland. The new sliding scale will provide higher subsidies for products with greater emissions savings;
Water quality / nitrogen balance: Suppliers must sign up to the AgNav platform to generate a nitrogen balance number and commit to working with a Carbery sustainability advisor to receive personalised guidance on actions to reduce nitrogen balance;
Breeding: The breeding pillar has been updated to include a dairy-beef component alongside the existing EBI component. The EBI component remains unchanged in 2025, and dairy-beef components come into effect from 2026 onwards. Suppliers are advised to use beef AI (artificial insemination) sires that meet the 2026 criteria in 2025.

Suppliers must meet two of three additional measures to achieve optimal soil pH through lime application.

The application of lime increases the soil’s pH, improving grass growth while reducing the need for chemical nitrogen.

This measure also improves nitrogen efficiency through the reduction of nitrogen loss as a greenhouse gas (GHG), leading to more effective nutrient use and reduced environmental impact.