Teagasc National Tillage Crops Forum

Some cereal producers face severe financial crisis this year. Speaking at the Teagasc national tillage crops forum, Jim O’Mahony, Teagasc Programme Manager for Tillage and Energy Crops said that cereal growers have been dealt a number of blows this year including:

• Escalating costs from a doubling of fertiliser and fuel prices
• Wet and difficult harvest weather
• Drop in grain prices

He warned that these factors combined, will create financial difficulties for some growers. He urged producers to plan carefully for the coming season using Teagasc budgets for individual crops.

The Teagasc national tillage crops forum, taking place in Newbridge, Co Kildare today, Wednesday, 10 September, brings together key players from the tillage industry including IFA, DAFF, Teagasc and trade representatives.

Jim Orson, the Research and Technical Director with TAG – the leading UK tillage crops advisory and research group, updated the forum on developments in the UK. Market prospects and critical financial and technical issues required to make crucial decisions before the start of the 2009 sowing season are also being discussed at the forum.

Jim O’Mahony said; ”Decisions for 2009 cropping programme have to be made in the next couple of weeks despite the fact that the 2008 harvest has yet to be finished. There is still up to 30 per cent of crops in the fields.”

Vital technical and financial information is being made available today, to aid key decisions. This includes:

• market prospects as well as grain marketing strategies to manage the risks from increasingly volatile market prices.
• crop budgets, rotations and key strategies to avoid the pitfalls of Take-all, and paying uneconomic rates for conacre.
• With virtually no winter wheat seed having been saved from the Irish crop, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are outlining the options available for varieties for 2009.
• Weed control is now becoming very costly particularly for growers using minimum tillage establishment. Strategies for winter cereal weed control of problem weeds like Sterile Brome and Canary Grass are being outlined. The strengths and weaknesses of new products will be discussed as well as their costs.