Crops Open Day

Teagasc and The Irish Farmers Journal have teamed up for the major tillage event of the year – Crops and Cover Crop Cultivations, which will be held at Oak Park on Wednesday, June 21^st.

This biennial event will incorporate machinery demonstrations as well as the Crops Research programme, which will be on display across field trials and active demonstrations at the Carlow site. Covering a range of topics, attendees will hear research led advice on crop nutrition, increasing use of IPM for future pest and control as well as demonstrating added value opportunities for plant protein.  Coping with volatile markets, reduced pesticide efficacy and increasing environmental constraints underlines the importance of the on-going research and makes adoption of the latest proven technologies essential for future sustainability goals.

The central arena, developed by Teagasc and the IFJ, will focus on different methods of stubble cultivation and cover crop planting and will include Irish Farmers Journal and Teagasc commentary on the working machines. The day will be a critical source of information to farmers implementing new stubble management legislation and planting cover crops. Cover crop area has been increasing in recent years and new cultivation requirements have encouraged more farmers to plant these crops. 

There will also be an added dimension as Teagasc’s horticultural team will display some of the latest technology in weeding, including robotic and camera guided hoes. While focussed on horticultural crops today, their application is likely to broaden into other crops in the near future.