Teagasc Crop Trials Event 2021
The sustainability of the tillage sector is dependent on the need to develop high value markets that exploit current and future opportunities, while also ensuring inputs are tailored to meet the challenges that exist. This was the focus of the research demonstrated today at the Crop Trials Event in Teagasc Oak Park, Carlow, which started today, Wednesday 30 June.
Head of the Teagasc Crops Research Department, Dr. Ewen Mullins said: ‘Developing added value to crop rotations while generating management regimes that minimize the cost of production, and the impact of farming on the environment, are our primary objectives to support the tillage industry’. Loss of crop protection products is now a fact of life and emphasises the need for Integrated Pest Management (IPM). To achieve this, enhancing our capacity to survey for and characterise the prevalence of pests and diseases is essential to support IPM actions’.
Today’s event highlights the current research underway at Oak Park which is delivering tangible IPM actions to mitigate the impact of BYDV (Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus) and manage septoria in winter wheat, through variety selection, delayed sowing dates and judicious chemical application. The essential steps around blackgrass and sterile brome management in all tillage establishment systems was also demonstrated to address the growing problem of grassweed infestations.
The Teagasc Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice Programme (ASSAP) and Agricultural Catchments Programme (ACP) detailed actions to minimize nutrient loss to waterways. On-going work highlighted to tillage farmers the potential of switching to liquid Nitrogen (N) for cereals, while utilizing post-winter crop green area in oilseed rape to estimate the N requirement of the crop.
Tillage farmers were advised of the high yield potential of rye and the capacity of mixed bean-pea cropping as an alternative protein crop, with multi-season trials highlighting the potential of winter bean sowing regardless of the cultivation system used.
The information booklet for the open day is available here
And there is also an on-line Irish Farmers Journal Live event, in conjunction with Teagasc, at 8.00pm on Wednesday, for you to see highlights of the event. Tune in here