Book straw supply as soon as possible
Shay Phelan, Crops Specialist at Teagasc, provided the reconvened meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee on July 8 with a tillage update, where he shared key details on crop performance, potential yields and straw availability.
Addressing the meeting which reports its findings back to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Phelan noted that the winter harvest is expected to begin with one week. However, given challenges with Barely Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) in winter barley crops and much variability in terms of the performance of winter wheat, many growers “aren’t too optimistic about yields”.
Given this and with only provision figures available to assess the planted areas, he noted that it is “difficult to assess the potential yields in winter crops” and further clarity is expected once combines begin to roll.
On a positive note however, even though many spring crops were planted later, he said: “In general, spring crops are probably better in terms of where they are this year than last year. They are probably going to be as good, if not slightly better, than they were last year”.
Straw availability
With the area under cereals down, Phelan said that a reduction in Irish grain production is expected, but the extent of this reduction will not become apparent until after the harvest, which is expected to run into September this year due to delayed spring plantings.
Broaching the topic of straw availability, the Teagasc Crops Specialist pointed to a reduced budget under the Straw Incorporation Measure – declining from €12.5 million in 2023 to €10 million in 2024 – potentially meaning that less straw will be returned to the seedbed post-harvest.
“Some advisors are reporting that farmers are actually taking land out of the Straw Incorporation Measure and they are going to bale it and sell it. That to me points to the fact that there will probably be more straw available this year than there was last year, albeit it with the caveat that late harvesting poses risks to quality, yield and the baling of straw.
“Standing crops look quite a bit healthier this year than they did last year and I would expect that if we got any sort of a half decent harvest season, then we probably will have more straw than we had last year,” Phelan said.
The ability of the above to meet livestock farmers’ demand for straw, he added, remains to be seen and adding a complication to this is the lack of straw carried over from the harvest in 2023.
Phelan concluded by saying: “If I was to advise farmers or advisors here and now, I would tell them to book as much straw as they possibly can, and maybe even put down a deposit on some of that straw to guarantee supply.
“A lot of people waited until the harvest was over last year before they went looking for straw and unfortunately then they found that some of this straw – due to the losses post-harvest – wasn’t as freely available as they thought it was.”
Access Teagasc’s presentation to the National Fodder and Feed Security Committee here.