Achieving economic and environmentally sustainable intensification of milk production – The role of innovation, technology and best practice adoption

Background
The abolition of the EU milk quota regime in 2015 removes one of the most significant constraints on EU dairy farmers’ ability to expand their milk production; however any future expansion in milk production that takes place should be sustainable from both an economic and environmental perspective. In response to the abolition of EU milk quotas, the Food Harvest 2020 report is targeting a 50% increase in Irish milk production. Achieving this level of expansion of milk production in an environmentally sustainable fashion will place an increasing emphasis on efficiency and innovation at farm level, especially in the areas of technology and best practice adoption as this has the potential to yield increased output while minimising the impact on the environment. This project will examine the factors influencing technology adoption in the context of environmentally and economically sustainable intensification of the Irish dairy sector. Specific objectives will include:
1. To identify combinations of technologies/best practices that could be adopted to achieve increased production/profitability and environmental sustainability on dairy farms.
2. To identify the key drivers/barriers impacting the adoption of appropriate technologies/best management practices.
3. To model the eco-efficiency of relevant technology/best practices adoption.

Requirements
Candidates should have a Master’s degree or first/ upper second-class honours degree in either agriculture, economics, psychology, environmental science or a related subject. It is expected that the student will be based at University College Dublin, Ireland in years 1 and 4 of the PhD programme and will be based at Teagasc, Athenry in County Galway, Ireland for years 2 and 3 of the PhD programme.