Crops
Minimum buffers to protect water
Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Ciaran Collins looks at the role buffer zones along watercourses play to help prevent sediment, nutrient loss and pesticides entering watercourses – a key feature of the Teagasc tillage display at this year’s National Ploughing Championships.
20 September 2024
Listen: Comparison of crop establishment techniques for growers
This week on the Tillage Edge podcast, we’re circling back to the National Tillage Conference from earlier this year and focusing on the trade-offs of establishment systems with Jack Jameson.
20 September 2024
Autumn planting
Balancing early cereal planting with risks such as BYDV, take-all, and disease is crucial, while strategic crop rotation, including oilseed rape, rye, and BYDV-tolerant barley, can optimise yield and profitability.
14 September 2024
Assessing soils is the best route to healthier soils
Correctly structured healthy soils will deliver better returns for farmers. Joining this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Soil and Plant Nutrition Specialist at Teagasc, Dr Veronica Nyhan discusses why it is necessary to carry out regular soil assessments and how the results can be used.
12 September 2024
Soil health, rotations and early planting addressed at Teagasc Crops Forum
The Teagasc Crops Forum discussed the latest agronomy issues facing farmers and also how farmers can improve their soils in the coming years. The Crops Forum took place on Wednesday, September 11 in the Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
11 September 2024
New resource on managing grass weeds available
Teagasc, via a new and improved Grass Weeds webpage, has provided tillage farmers with a key resource to aid in the identification and control of grass weeds.
09 September 2024
Drilling oilseed rape and creating a cropping plan for winter crops
Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Shay Phelan offers key advice on establishing and managing winter oilseed rape crops, while also focusing on the key elements of a cropping plan for winter crops.
05 September 2024
Harvest results from around the country
With a good proportion of the harvest completed, Teagasc Tillage Advisors, Ciara O’Donovan, Conor O’Callaghan and John Pettit join this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to report on the yields in their areas to date, with all three reporting good yields from spring barley and reasonable straw yields.
05 September 2024
Too late for cover crops?
As spring crop harvesting edges into September, tillage farmers may begin to question the value of establishing cover crops at this late stage.
04 September 2024
Diary date: What’s planned for the Teagasc Crops Forum?
As poor weather over recent cropping seasons has forced many farmers into making decisions which affected rotations and soil health, the upcoming Teagasc Crops Forum 2024 will address some of these critical areas.
03 September 2024
All you need to know about weeds
Vijaya Bhaskar A.V., Dermot Forristal and Michael Hennessy, discuss the challenges of managing herbicide-resistant weeds in Irish tillage farming, emphasizing the need for integrated weed management strategies to combat the growing resistance, which threatens crop yields and farming sustainability.
30 August 2024
Good seedbed conditions is the most important factor for a successful crop of oilseed rape
Ciaran Collins discusses the challenges and considerations for planting winter oilseed rape, particularly focusing on the impact of delayed spring barley harvests, optimal sowing dates, seedbed conditions, and pest control.
30 August 2024
Mixed harvest results from Poland and the UK
Tim Bergin, a Dublin man farming in Poland, and Andy Mahon, a Dubliner who manages a farm in the UK, join the Tillage Edge this week to chat about their respective harvests with contrasting reports of a very difficult year in the UK and a year full of promise from Poland.
29 August 2024
Richie Hackett explains how cover crops offer multiple benefits for farmers
Cover crops have many benefits for a farmer and also for the wider landscape. On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Richie Hackett, Teagasc Crops Researcher in Oak Park, delves into the benefits and pitfalls when growing cover crops.
22 August 2024
Post-harvest stubble management
Post-harvest cultivations are a useful tool to try to control problem weeds, Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Shay Phelan tells us more.
22 August 2024
Signpost Update: Overcoming an ACRES setback and focusing on crop management
Tom Barry, Signpost participant and tillage farmer from Co. Cork, gives an update on an ACRES setback on his farm, crop performance and early harvest progress.
17 August 2024
Blight is still a risk to potato crops
As the early potato harvest progresses and with maincrop varieties expected to appear in about two weeks’ time, Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Shay Phelan tells us how blight still poses a risk to potato crops.
15 August 2024
Harvest lull an opportunity to drill winter oilseed rape
With a lull in the harvest at the moment, Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Shay Phelan tells us why now is the opportune time to drill winter oilseed rape, while also offering key advice on variety selection and weed control.
15 August 2024
The oilseed rape planning window is upon us - here's how to prepare for it
The ideal time to plant oilseed rape is in the next couple of weeks. Given this, Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialists in Teagasc, join the Tillage Edge this week to chat about the variety choice and best practice for good establishment.
15 August 2024
Get your weeds tested for herbicide resistance
Teagasc is offering a herbicide resistance testing service for tillage farmers. With a break in the harvest, Ciaran Collins says that this is the last opportunity to inspect crops for uncontrolled weeds and to collect samples for herbicide resistance testing if resistance is suspected.
08 August 2024
The harvest in Teagasc, Oak Park - progressing well despite the weather
The Teagasc crops research farm in Oak Park, Carlow, is in the middle of the harvest and Brendan Burke, the farm manager, joins the Tillage Edge this week to chat about the highs and lows of the harvest so far.
08 August 2024
The Benefits of Cover Cropping
Coming off the back of a very wet autumn and winter, it was clear to see the huge benefits a well-established cover crop can bring in terms of protecting soils and reducing losses of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment to water.
03 August 2024
Steps to change your application from the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) to the Baling Assistance Programme (BAP)
Michael Hennessy writes about the announcement of the BAP scheme and how farmers can apply.
01 August 2024
Money available for tillage farmers in the Water EIP project
Noel Meehan, Head of Agricultural Catchments, joins us on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to talk about the funding which is available to tillage farmers as part of the Water EIP project.
01 August 2024
A Kilkenny and Cork farmer talk about the harvest so far and the frustration over straw
Farmers, James O’Reilly, from Kilkenny, and James Hegarty, from Cork, join this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to chat about the harvest so far.
29 July 2024
Tillage advice: Straw Incorporation Measure and stubble management
As uncertainty still surrounds the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Shay Phelan looks at the economics involved in deciding to chop, the benefits of straw incorporation and stubble cultivation rules farmers need to be aware of.
25 July 2024
Sharp decline in tillage incomes in 2023
Family Farm Income on tillage farms declined by 71% year-on-year, the Teagasc National Farm Survey 2023, published today, July 23, has shown. Representing a total of 6,246 tillage farms, the average earned a Family Farm Income of €21,399, or €292/ha for a 73ha farm.
23 July 2024
In pictures: Reeling in the years as Oak Park Crops Research Centre celebrates 60
Visitors from far and wide visited Teagasc Oak Park on Saturday, July 13, as 60 years of agricultural innovation were celebrated at the Teagasc Crops Research Centre.
19 July 2024
How improved genetics is helping to grow better crops
Not all crop varieties which could be available to Irish farmers are suitable to be grown in Ireland. On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Tim O’Donovan, Technical Director at Seedtech, chats through the varieties which are available and why these are suitable to Irish conditions.
18 July 2024
Tillage crop area remains steady despite challenges
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has released figures indicating that the overall area of tillage crops in Ireland for 2024 remains relatively stable, despite facing significant weather challenges.
18 July 2024