The challenge
Fertiliser is one of the largest and most volatile costs in grassland farming, and nitrogen in particular is almost entirely imported. Cutting it without losing grass is the prize, and the risk.
A trial in County Carlow, Ireland, set out to measure how far inputs could fall while keeping grass yield and quality, with the results assessed by Teagasc, Ireland's national agriculture and food development authority, and an independent laboratory.
What we did
Over a single season, synthetic fertiliser was substituted with a biodynamic fertiliser and a biocatalyst, and the grass yield, quality and soil biology were measured against the conventional baseline.
The result
Less input, the same grass, livelier soil.
Soil organic content and moisture rose as well. Important context: this result was achieved by substituting synthetic fertiliser with a biodynamic fertiliser plus the biocatalyst, over a single, drought-affected season, and the trial authors note that synthetic nitrogen could not be fully substituted. The general, defensible reduction in nitrogen from this kind of approach is in the region of 10 to 50%, so the trial's headline figures should travel with this context, not as a guaranteed outcome.
The trial was assessed by Teagasc, Ireland's national agriculture and food development authority, with laboratory analysis by an independent laboratory, the highest grade of validation in our evidence base.
Why it matters
For grassland farmers facing rising, import-dependent fertiliser costs, this trial shows how far inputs can fall while holding yield, and how much it improves the soil. Read with its single-season, substitution context, it points to a real, defensible reduction in fertiliser and nitrogen, not a silver bullet.
Tell us your challenge
Tell us the cost, the risk or the obligation you are facing. A senior member of our team will respond, in confidence, with how we would help.