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, as well as the growing problem of weeds, particularly poppies, with Charlotte Morgan.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

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Correctly structured healthy soils will deliver better returns for farmers and on this week’s Tillage Edge, Dr Veronica Nyhan, a soil and plant nutrition specialist in Teagasc, joins the podcast to discuss why it is necessary to carry out regular soil assessments and how the results can be used to correct any deficits.

 

Veronica explains that a test dig can take about 20 minutes to complete and can reveal a wealth of information.  

 

The assessment itself is designed to be carried out by farmers with excellent instruction available both on video and using the Teagasc Soil Structure ABC guide at: 

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/environment/soil/The-soil-structure-ABC.-A-practical-guide-to-managing-soil-structure.pdf

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

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Organic tillage farming may seem out of reach to most conventional tillage farmers, however Gavin Tully, an organic tillage farmer in Wexford, is on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to explain how he has successfully negotiated some of the problems associated with the organic system. 

 

Gavin explains that he is a fan of cereal and protein mixes as it results in a well-balanced concentrate for his customers.

 

He also uses multiple ways to control annual weeds in crops to varying degrees of success.  But in the end he says establishing a good crop stand is the most helpful. 

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

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Ireland has a relatively small organic sector and the number of tillage farmers within this is smaller again, however there is now a sustained drive from the EU and the government to convert more farms to organic production and to grow this market.

 

Martin Bourke is a specialist tillage, organic advisor with Teagasc and he joins Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast to discuss some of the pros and cons of converting to an organic, tillage farm.

 

 

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Winter cereal plantings are continuing apace this week, albeit growers are grabbing every chance they have through the bands of rain every 2-3 days.  

 

Last year BYDV was a problem on many farms, and not only farms with early sown crops, but later sown crops in the south of the country were also badly affected in places.  

 

It’s important to understand when crops are most at risk and the best strategies to deal with this threat and so Dr Louise McNamara, an entomologist from Oak Park, joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss and advise on the threat posed by aphids this year.

 

 

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Continuing a series of interviews with tillage farmers who are involved with the various programmes in Teagasc, on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy finds out more about the Enable Conservation Tillage Project which enables farmers to embrace non-plough based tillage systems whilst at the same time cope with grass weeds that can emerge.

 

Bill Shanahan, a farmer from Waterford, and his Teagasc ECT Project advisor, John Mahon, join Michael to discuss Bill’s experiences so far.

  

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Following on from the Crops Forum which was held recently, on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge podcast, you’ll hear from moderator Andy Doyle discussing the issue of fertiliser supply and costs with Kieran McEvoy from the IFA, Clive Carter from IGG, as well as Donal Maloney from Tirlán, Enda McDonald from Grassland Agro, Bill Callanan from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Teagasc’s tillage specialist, Ciarán Collins.

 

 

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The Crops Forum was held recently with an excellent line up and a very interesting discussion from a panel of experts across the country.   

 

And on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge podcast, you’ll hear from moderator Andy Doyle discussing the financial risks of the year ahead with Kieran McEvoy from the IFA, Clive Carter from IGG, as well as Donal Maloney from Tirlán, Enda McDonald from Grassland Agro, Bill Callanan from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Teagasc’s tillage specialist, Ciarán Collins.

 

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Application of pesticides is highly regulated but new rules are coming down the track which are being formulated by the EU at the moment and Anne Marie Dillon from the Department of Agriculture and the Marine joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to outline what is contained in these EU proposals.

 

The areas of concern include: increased recording at farm level, reductions of PPPs by 50%, changes on how advice can be given by advisors and prohibitions on applying pesticides in sensitive areas.  

 

Many of these proposals will have far reaching consequences for the industry but farmers and industry can have their say to feed into the process before the rules are signed off.  

 

You can click here to start the process: 

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12413-Pesticides-sustainable-use-updated-EU-rules-_en

 

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Vincent Macken is a Tillage Signpost farmer in county Meath and along with his Teagasc advisor, Shane Kennedy, he joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss sustainable farming in practice.   

 

Vincent said he is developing practices on the farm such as increasing the number of crops in the rotation and focusing on healthy soils both of which are helping to reduce inputs whilst also maintaining profitability.

 

Shane Kennedy described some of the practices that Vincent uses on his farm including a farm trial where insecticide use is critically evaluated in terms of BYDV control. 

 

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The dry soils are making oilseed rape weed control difficult and choosing the correct options will maximise control but also minimise crop effects.  

 

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Ciarán Collins, a tillage specialist in Teagasc, discusses the benefits and drawbacks from a number of different approaches.

 

Ciarán explains that residual herbicides don’t work well in dry soils and growers should be cautious when using these herbicides when heavy rain is forecast.  

 

Ciarán also pointed out that oilseed rape gives an excellent opportunity to control grass weeds using herbicides with a different mode of action than are normally used on the farm.

 

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Solar electricity from Photo Voltaic (PV) panels can be suitable for tillage farmers who are using a lot of energy such as potato or grain stores and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Barry Caslin, a Bioenergy Specialist in Teagasc, discusses how PV can be useful to tillage farmers.

 

Barry explains that to get the best from these systems, self-use of the generated electricity will give the best paybacks.

 

Barry also chats through figures on the capital outlay, expected outputs and paybacks.

 

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Oilseed rape will give comparable margins in 2023 to winter wheat and is a crop worth consideration on most farms and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast,  Shay Phelan and Dermot Forristal from Teagasc discuss the varieties, establishment methods and early crop management of oilseed rape.

 

According to Shay, choosing a variety with high light leaf spot and pod shatter resistance is a good starting point but there are other traits which can be looked at including Phoma resistance or a Clearfield variety which is matched to a specific herbicide allowing to control other brassicia species in the field. 

 

Dermot Forristal said oilseed rape is resilient and will give similar yields when planted with different establishment systems, providing plants are evenly spaced through the field.  

 

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John Dunne, Arable Trials and Agronomy Manager at Goldcrop, joined the Tillage Edge podcast this week to chat about the varieties coming through the system. 

 

John first discusses the array of existing and new varieties that were on display at the Goldcrop Open day in Cork. 

 

He outlines the disease pressure in all cereals but is particularly happy that the new winter barley varieties are standing up well against BYDV.  

 

There are also a number of winter oilseed varieties coming through which have multiple stacked traits including resistance to pod shatter, light leaf spot and sclerotinia.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
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The Tillage Edge chatted to Andy Mahon, who is a farm manager in North Bedfordshire in the UK.  Andy, originally from Dublin, is almost finished the harvest already.  Andy said this has been the earliest, and easiest harvest he has ever been involved in.  Crops developed earlier than normal through the spring and the lack of water has not helped yields. 

Andy said yields are 10% lower than the farm long term averages but the quality is excellent and he is hoping wheat crops will achieve milling specification.  Andy is concerned about the high risks of production for next year but has purchased all the fertilisers already so he will continue growing wheat.  

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

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Ted Massey, from the Nitrates Section at the Department of Agriculture, joined the Tillage Edge this week to discuss the new rules around stubble cultivation.  These rules are intended to encourage plants to grow and mop up nitrogen, which could be leached to ground water.  Ted chatted through a number of important clarifications to the rules and how farmers can best follow the rules at farm level.

Ted said “We listened to the farming community and Teagasc and as a result the clarified rules will both reduce nitrate leaching from tillage land but also leave space for nature”.  Ted mentioned that the Department of Agriculture would add more information on their website to provide more clarity to the rules.

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

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Jim McCarthy joined the Tillage Edge podcast from Romania this week to give an update on the progress of his harvest and an overview of the harvest in his part of the world.  

 

Jim said that the lack of rainfall so far in the growing season has been compounded by recent prolonged high temperatures and as a result, wheat yields are 40% lower than normal.  

 

He also said he thinks the summer crops such as maize and sunflowers will be severely affected unless they get rain in the coming weeks.

 

Jim explained that the entire region is suffering and the predicted Romanian maize harvest has been revised from 15 million tonnes to 7.9 million tonnes.  

 

Looking forward to next year, he has forward bought some fertiliser but the farm rotation will change to mitigate some of the risk for 2023. 

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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The harvest so far has been a mixed affair with relatively poor winter barley yields across the country.  

 

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, John Pettit and Conor Kavanagh, both Teagasc tillage advisors, discuss the results so far from the south east and the south of the country.

 

Conor says the poor winter barley yields are probably a combination of earlier drilling which increased the levels of BYDV and take all.  Yields were very poor in crops that had high levels of BYDV.  

 

Farmers in the south-east were affected by BYDV also but John pointed out that take all probably had a large effect on barley in a poor rotational.  John added that yields, so far, in winter oats are close or above average.   

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

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Shay Phelan talks to Dermot Forristal and Brendan Burke from Oak Park on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss combine harvester settings to ensure that crops are harvested as efficiently as possible. 

 

Both Dermot and Brendan emphasise the need to adjust the setting to take account of the crop and the harvesting conditions to get a good sample and to reduce losses. 

 

Both also discuss how to reduce compaction on soils during harvest which may have long term consequences for fields, especially those in reduced cultivation systems.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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Dr. Steven Kildea joins Shay Phelan on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to talk about potato blight. 

 

Steven describes the conditions that favour the development of blight in a crop and also how to control the fungus.

 

Steven also discusses how a new strain of blight has been found in Ireland which has resistance to one of the popular fungicides used both commercially and by hobby growers.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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Input prices have skyrocketed but at the same time the value of outputs have also increased.  The value of chemical P and K has doubled, therefore the value of the P and K in straw has also doubled.  

 

On the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Mark Plunkett and Dermot Forristal from Teagasc, discuss the value of straw and how best to incorporate straw this year.

 

Dermot also chats about the best techniques to incorporate straw and where a tine cultivator can work better than disc cultivators.  He says that one of the most important things is to ensure straw is spread evenly across the full width of the header.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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Ciarán Collins and Shay Phelan, both Tillage Specialists in Teagasc, joined Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast to discuss how crops have developed over the season and to look forward to the harvest.  

 

They both touched on the major features of the season and pointed to the generally low disease pressure this year and agree that, given where crops are at the moment, there is excellent yield potential in all crops.

 

Shay also discussed oilseed rape desiccation from assessment to the products which can be used and he pointed out that careful assessment of the seed in pods is critical before desiccation can begin. 

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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Grassweeds in tillage crops are becoming more common but John Mahon,Teagasc ECT advisor, is on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge podcast and says that any grass weed population can be successfully managed.  

 

John says farmers should take a zero tolerance approach to weeds such as blackgrass and ryegrass as these weeds are hugely prolific seed producers and are hard to eliminate if they become established.

 

There are a number of herbicides, which form part of the control measures, but using the same herbicide types too often will encourage herbicide resistance.  

 

John points to multiple resistant populations which many Irish farmers are trying to deal with at the moment.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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This year BYDV is evident in both winter and spring crops despite many farmers’ best efforts trying to control aphids which spread the virus.  

 

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Louise McNamara, an entomologist from Teagasc, Oak Park, Carlow discussed the virus spread and what makes this year different to other years.

 

Yield reduction in crops is likely where there is a large BYDV infection but Louise said that the extent of the yield loss depends on how early the crop was infected and also the type of BYDV strain infecting the plant.  

 

Counts so far this year revealed that infected tillers did not exceed 8% of total tillers, which in previous research was classed as a low infection resulting in minimal yield loss.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

 

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The wet and cold spring in Ireland was mirrored in the US according to Brian Caldbeck, a Laois man, who is farming and running a seeds business in Kentucky, USA, and joins Michael on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast.  

 

Brian says the late planting into poor seedbed conditions will result in small roots which leave crops more exposed to drought and heat stresses.  Although the risks are greater it all comes down to the weather in July.

 

Brian also chats about the US farm insurance schemes which most farmers participate in and he explains that these policies are necessary for farmers who rely on bank credit from year to year. 

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

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Potato blight can be every bit as damaging in 2022 as it was in 1845. Blight is a devastating organism but relatively predictable as it needs specific conditions to develop during the growing season. This week’s Tillage Edge podcast is joined by Dr Stephen Kildea, a researcher in Teagasc and Klara Finkele, Head of Agricultural Meteorology at Met Éireann, to discuss how the potato blight forecasting has developed over the past number of years and how it can help farmers in 2022. Stephen said the extensive research and testing of the new model will give growers confidence to adjust their fungicide inputs from week to week basis while Klara points to the huge data processing capacity available and the ability to deliver the new blight predictions at a local level for a 5 day period ahead of the blight development. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

‘A wet and windy May fills the barn with corn and hay’ is a saying that all growers are aware of and hope will come true this year. However, wet conditions in May bring their own problems with increased foliar diseases and Dr. Steven Kildea joined the Tillage Edge podcast this week to discuss the progress of disease control in crops so far this year Steven said that despite commercial crops looking relatively clean, many of the untreated crops in Oak Park have moderate to high levels of disease. There are stark differences between varieties with Graham and Costello worth comparing this year. Steven refers to timings of fungicide applications also being critical and a poorly applied final fungicide in Spring barley can potentially cost a grower 0.4t/ha of grain. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Ireland will host the World Potato Congress on May 30th to June 2nd in the RDS, Dublin and this week’s Tillage Edge podcast previews the event with Liam Glennon of the Irish Potato Federation and Denis Griffin from Teagasc who are the main drivers in organising the congress. A worldwide audience is expected with delegates coming from Australia, America, Africa and across Asia. The congress will have a commercial focus but delegates will also hear about the most up to date research in areas such as seed production, storage, sustainability, consumer trends, rural development and much more. For more details and to book into the conference go to: https://wpc2022ireland.com/ For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Phelim Dolan from Comex McKinnon joined the Tillage Edge podcast this week to talk about the current grain market and the prospects for the coming months. Phelim talks about the pressures on grain supply before the war in Ukraine started and the current effect of the war on prices now. Looking forward, Phelim pointed to the crisis in some sectors due to very expensive grain and a strong possibility of a global recession, which is predicted for the latter half of 2022 into 2023 which will have a negative impact on grain prices. Consequently, Phelim wouldn’t discourage farmers to forward sell grain, given the historically high prices, to lock in some profits. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Irish farmer in Romania, Jim McCarthy, re-joins Michael Hennessy on the Tillage Edge podcast this week to discuss the continued effects of the Ukrainian conflict on the local people in Romania and also on his farm business there. Jim first explained that his efforts in helping refugees has decreased due to the superb organisation and support coming from the Romanian government. Jim has good information on the planting and prospects for Ukrainian harvests, with fuel a major concern for farmers, he says. He also chats about his farm and despite the excellent planting and emerging conditions for spring crops, he fears that there may not be enough water to deliver high yielding crops. Jim said a good maize crop requires about 600mm of water but given the low rainfall in April and the average rainfall expected, this would only amount to 350mm of rain. Consequently lower yields are expected. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

The latest Tillage Edge podcast catches up again with Tim Bergin who is a Dubliner farming in north Poland. Tim talks about how the conflict in Ukraine has affected his business and the locality. Despite being over 1,000 km from the Ukraine border, there are substantial numbers of Ukrainians in the locality and Tim commented that the Polish government is doing an excellent job catering for these displaced people. Tim said the dry and cold weather to date has reduced growth and crops are approximately three weeks behind where they would normally be at this time of the year. Planting is not completed and Tim had decided not to grow potatoes in 2022 up to last week but an improved offer by the potato industry in the past few days has changed his mind. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Crops are racing through their growth stages and many crops require critical inputs to ensure they reach their yield potential. Ciarán Collins and Shay Phelan, who are both Tillage Specialists in Teagasc, joined the Tillage Edge podcast this week to discuss the crop management actions needed on farms in the coming weeks. Ciarán commented that winter barley is at the ideal growth stage to apply a growth regulation and growers should assess their crops as soon as they can. Shay talked about the importance of holding the first fungicide in winter wheat until the third last leaf has emerged as this sets up the fungicide programme for the rest of the year. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Precision placement of fertilisers is critical to ensure farmers get the maximum returns and on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge podcast, Craig England, a Precision Ag and Machine Control Specialist working with Topcon, chats about the extra accuracy a GPS enabled fertiliser spreader can bring to spreading fertilisers. Craig explained how the GPS spreaders can accurately turn on and off the spreader at the headlands but many spreaders, using section control, can modify the fertiliser applied to even out the spread on short ground or awkward corners. The GPS machines can employ different technology from weigh cells to sensing the torque on the discs but Craig says if these machines are properly maintained they have proven to be very reliable. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Eoin Lyons, the Teagasc Boortmalt joint program advisor, joined this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss the management of malting barley over the coming weeks. Spring malting barley is one of the biggest cereal crops in Ireland and getting the correct management of the crop in the early stages of growth is critical to achieving the required specs. Eoin recommends applying a lower rate of nitrogen to barley destined for the distilling market compared to crops for the brewing market. The application timing of the final nitrogen is before early tillering. Eoin said that despite the cost of nitrogen, he is not recommending growers reduce the rates as the existing recommended rates are needed to maintain yield and also protein contents. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Teagasc tillage specialists, Ciarán Collins and Shay Phelan, joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s podcast to discuss the new Tillage Incentive Scheme and what’s in it for tillage farmers. The specialists also discussed areas to watch out for when ploughing grassland for tillage crops this year. Shay pointed out that the scheme isn’t attractive to specialised tillage farmers on their own ground (because it is in tillage already) but there are opportunities for tillage farmers to work with grassland farmers to produce crops. Ciarán pointed to the critical areas to consider before ploughing grassland saying, “Soil pH and P&K levels should be at a reasonable level before ploughing grassland in order to produce high yielding tillage crops.” For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Despite reports of poor weather in parts of Europe, Tim Bergin, a Dubliner who is farming in Poland and is on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, says his crops are excellent and he is hopeful for a good harvest.  

 

However, Tim does outline the very poor conditions experienced over the autumn last year and the lengths needed to harvest potatoes on his farm.

 

The soils on Tim’s farm are clay loam over sand and, if treated right, will drain well, even after heavy rain.   

 

All straw is chopped and incorporated back into the soil and Tim is confident he is building soil carbon each year and improving his soils. 

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Tom Barry, a Cork farmer near Mallow, chats to Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast about applying pig slurry to growing winter crops. Tom has been applying slurries to his land for over 20 years and says the benefits are twofold. “I can reduce costs by €150/ac or more and increase yields by three quarters of a ton per acre,” said Tom. Michael McCarthy, Tom’s Teagasc tillage advisor, pointed to the level of nutrients which were measured at 14 units of Nitrogen, 5 units Phosphate, and 15 units of Potassium per 1,000 gallons. Michael said “We measure the dry matter to calculate the usable nutrients and we estimate close to 100% of these nutrients will be utilised by the crops this year.” For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Dr Sarah Cook, a weed expert in ADAS in the UK joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss blackgrass and best ways to control the weed by exploiting the weed’s weaknesses. She highlighted some simple cultural control methods like ploughing, later sowing and competitive crops that will help with control. Sarah said blackgrass can develop herbicide resistance quickly as it cross-pollinates and pointed to the fact the weed developed resistance to Atlantis (or Pacifica) within three years of its introduction in the UK. She emphasised how important it is for farmers not to ignore the problem and deal with it when there are only a few plants in a field by hand rougeing as this will save your farm a lot of money in the long term. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Jim McCarthy, who is farming in Romania, sixty kilometres from the Ukraine border, chats to the Tillage Edge this week about the impacts of the Ukraine war on his family and business. Jim discusses the immediate efforts of his staff who are helping Ukrainian refugees arriving at the border to travel to safety outside Ukraine. He chatted about the effects of changes to grain price and input costs and how this is immediately shaping his business. Jim also discusses where he thinks the grain production in Ukraine and Russia is likely to go in 2022. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Both winter oilseed rape and winter barley have started to grow and many farmers are either getting back into fields or are anxiously waiting for soils to dry out. On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy speaks to Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan, Teagasc tillage specialists, about the progress of the main winter crops and the most urgent jobs to be completed. Ciaran Collins talked about the need to get some nitrogen on winter barleys in light soils over the next few days and also pointed to the risks of lodging this year. Shay Phelan told the podcast that applying nitrogen to oilseed rape with GAI of one or less is now overdue. Shay also added that time is running out to control light leaf spot in oilseed rape as flower buds are starting to come through the canopy. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

More farmers are investing in GPS systems but navigating the different systems can be challenging. This is the first in a series of podcasts on the Tillage Edge exploring the area of precision technology on farms. Craig England, a Precision Ag and Machine Control Specialist working for Topcon Positioning Ireland, joined Michael Hennessy to go through the requirements for a tillage farmer getting started with a GPS system. Craig explained that the accuracy of farmer-based systems could vary from 40cm to 2cm accuracy. There are different hardware specifications and subscriptions, which a farmer can purchase to increase the accuracy. Craig also said that a good system to control GPS enabled sprayers or fertiliser spreaders will cost in the region of €4,000. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

This week’s Tillage Edge podcast continues the series looking at farmers who are working closely with Teagasc in the Signpost Farms programme and other initiatives. Don Somers, a farmer in Wexford, and his advisor John Pettit, joined Michael Hennessy to discuss Don’s farm practice. Don has costed out various fertiliser practices and has identified that changing to protected urea on winter crops will return savings of close to €39/ha or close to €3,000 over the farm. He is running a min-till establishment system for the past few years and has worked hard to build fertility over the last 8-9 years. Don has a very good handle on his soil's fertility and yields coming from the fields as he will use yield mapping data to feed into fertiliser prescription maps. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

This week’s Tillage Edge podcast revisits the questions and answers from the Malting Barley Webinar which was held on February 10th. A panel of experts from Teagasc, Boortmalt and Teagasc, as well as farmers, answered questions that were asked by attendee farmers during the webinar. The session covers nitrogen applications for this season, how cover crops can be incorporated into malting barley production and also sustainability issues of producing malting barley. Dr Gary Lanigan from Teagasc told the webinar that it’s very possible for a 100 hectare malting barley producer to be net zero for carbon. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

This week, the Tillage Edge podcast catches up with the questions and answers from the Crops Webinar on CAP23 which was held on February 3rd. A panel of experts from the Department of Agriculture and Marine, Teagasc and a farmer answer questions that were asked by farmers during the webinar. The session covers areas such as partnerships, young farmers, eligible crops, entitlement values and much more. The webinar also touches on how tillage farmers are more affected by the CAP changes than other farmers and how this may affect their viability in the future. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

This week the Tillage Edge chats to Eoin Lyons, the Teagasc Boortmalt Joint Programme Advisor, who explains why it is critical that tillage farmers get a nutrient management plan completed for 2022. Eoin goes through the process of creating a nutrient management plan and the time involved and he says where a farm is already mapped in the NMP online system, then a nutrient management plan could be created for a typical tillage farm in about 30-40 minutes. Eoin outlines the outputs from the NMP which include a shopping list of fertilisers, lime and P&K maps, etc. which the farmer can view on paper or on their phone. Example of the type of reports available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGyGJaMDil4 For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

This week, the Tillage Edge podcast links in with the National Tillage Conference webinar which covered a number of areas to help farmers utilise fertiliser more efficiently and also addressed where farmers can reduce fertiliser inputs. The podcast covers the excellent question and answer sections which cover the main topics from the webinar. Dr. David Wall, Dr. Richie Hackett and Dermot Forristal, all researchers in Teagasc, answered questions on a range of crop nutrition topics including lime, P and K inputs, organic manures, nitrogen and specific issues around oilseed rape and fertiliser applications. You can watch the webinar in full at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYH-sP3lnWM&t=549s To register for the National Tillage Conference Part 2 webinar and for other webinars as part of Tillage Month, go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/tillagemonth/ For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

As we move towards the end of the growing season, some final actions are necessary on spring crops.  Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, and Eoin Lyons, a Tillage advisor in Teagasc, join this week's Tillage Edge podcast to discuss the critical agronomy actions needed over the next couple of weeks.

 

On the show, Eoin explains how reduced growth over the past couple of weeks has also slowed the progress of disease, however, he points out that net blotch in Planet spring barley needs to be watched carefully when deciding on the final fungicide application.

 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

This week’s Tillage Edge podcast chats to John Mahon who has been working in various roles in Irish agriculture over the past thirty years and John gives his perspective of conservation agriculture and grass weed control as it stands in the industry today. He points out that there are a number of areas to be concerned about - especially the protection of existing herbicides and dealing with herbicide resistant grass weeds. John recently joined the Teagasc Enable Conservation Tillage project as an advisor and he is in the process of getting up to speed in all aspects of the project. He outlines some of the areas where he will concentrate his efforts over the next few months and is encouraging farmers/agronomists to get in touch with him to arrange training sessions around non plough based establishment systems and grass weed identification/control. You can contact John on john.mahon@teagasc.ie For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

In the first Tillage Edge podcast for 2022, Michael Hennessy talks to Will Stokes, a tillage farmer in Tipperary, who is participating in the Signpost Farm programme. Will and his Teagasc advisor, Conor Kavanagh, discuss how Will is making changes on his farm, particularly around caring for the soils. Will is focused on building soil reserves of P & K and as part of that imports organic manures each year. He recently undertook GPS soil sampling to more accurately target nutrient gaps and, he says, finds the information particularly useful to making better decisions for the farm. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

In the final podcast for 2021, The Tillage Edge looks forward to 2022 with Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, both Tillage Specialists in Teagasc. They discuss the major challenges facing farmers such as high fertiliser prices and the new CAP. There is a lot to play for in tillage in 2022 and due to the higher costs, especially with fertilisers, many are commenting that growing cereals this year is a much bigger gamble than normal. Both Ciaran and Shay give some pointers as to how farmers can cope with these changes. For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com