The Tillage Edge: Recent Episodes

Teagasc

The Tillage Edge is Teagasc's new tillage podcast, presented by Michael Hennessy.

Bringing you weekly episodes covering agronomy needs of crops throughout the season with input from Teagasc researchers and views from across the industry.

Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia (https://www.LastCastMedia.com) .

Matt Dempsey, former editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, and Chair of the DAFM Food Vision Tillage group, chats to Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast about the interim recommendations from the Food Vision Tillage Group.

Matt says there is an openness by the government to look at capital projects which could support the industry long term such as a storage/processing for proteins, and a processing facility for oilseed rape, etc.

Other areas in which the group will recommend some changes include the Tillage Incentive Scheme, land access, and access to plant protection products.

Also, don’t forget Teagasc are holding a field event at Don Somers’ farm, Oilgate, Co Wexford on Thursday September 14th at 10am.

Don is an innovative farmer who has a terrific story to tell about his farming practice and there is also a range of stands with experts from across Teagasc.

For more details:

https://bitly.ws/TzBC

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

Shay Phelan and John Mahon from Teagasc are on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to chat through what to expect from the Teagasc Crops Forum next Friday in Naas.

Shay explained the forum will hear from Andrew Owen-Griffiths, who is head of DG Sante, which is responsible for the EU Commission's policies on health and food safety. Andrew will talk about the new pesticide regulations and how these might affect Irish farmers.

The Crops Forum will debate the future of the industry with stakeholders and will also debate measures which can help to drive the industry forward. These solutions will be forwarded to the Tillage Vision group for consideration in the final report which is to go to government in October.

The Crops Forum is on Friday September 8th in the Kilashee Hotel Naas and for more details go to:

http://bitly.ws/S6oo

Also a date for your diary is a field event on Don Somers farm at Oilgate, Co Wexford on Thursday September 14th at 10am.

Don is an innovative farmer who has a terrific story to tell about his farming practice and there is also a range of stands with experts from across Teagasc.

For more details visit:

https://bitly.ws/TzBC

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

Planning for 2024 harvest has begun on many farms and farmers should bear in mind the crop diversification rule, or three crop rule, is in force for 2024.

Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialists in Teagasc, are on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to explain more.

Ciaran says that the three crop rule is similar to other years and growers should ensure they get the percentage of each crop correct.

Meanwhile, Shay gives an update on the new rule around crop rotation at parcel level. Shay says that each parcel must have a different crop in a parcel every four years, so long term continuous cereals is difficult.

A date for your diary is the Crops Forum on Friday September 8th in the Kilashee Hotel Naas, and for more details click here:

http://bitly.ws/S6oo

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

New rules brought in this year under GAEC 6 will exclude tillage farmers who do not have grassland from grazing cover crops, according to Shay Phelan, a tillage specialist in Teagasc.

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Shay outlines the DAFM rules which must be complied with to graze cover crops and what the DAFM inspectors will be looking for on farm.

Oilseed rape planting season is upon us at the moment and Shay talks about the various characteristics which farmers should look for in varieties such as light leaf spot resistance, pod shatter resistance, lodging resistance etc.

Also, a date for your diary is the Crops Forum on Friday September 8th in the Kilashee Hotel, Naas and for more details go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/crops-forum-2023.php

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

Brendan Burke, the farm manager in Teagasc Oak Park, joins the Tillage Edge this week to chat about the harvest progress on the farm.

Despite the weather, Brendan says his team have made good progress and pretty much all of the ripe crops are harvested. However, Brendan says saving the straw was more difficult and much of it is still on the ground.

Brendan explains the process of harvesting in Oak Park as every field has some trial plots which need to be harvested by plot combines. This harvesting is slow as each plot needs an exact yield, quality parameters and in many cases physical samples may also need to be taken.

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

Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, joined the Tillage Edge podcast this week to chat about the harvest and stubble cultivation rules which farmers should be aware of.

Ciaran said the harvest is stop/start with good progress being made in winter barley, winter oilseed rape and winter oats. He said yields are variable across all crops and no yield records will be broken.

Much of the winter barley straw is still on the ground and Ciaran said this should not be touched until there is at least three to four days continuous good weather.

However, Ciaran pointed to the volume of work that needs to be completed and the priority should be given to harvesting grain over straw or stubble cultivation.

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

Tim Bergin, an Irish man farming in Poland, joined the Tillage Edge this week to chat about the year so far and his harvest progress.

Tim said that a cold spell early in the year followed by a prolonged drought has affected cereal growth and he is expecting lower yields from these crops.

Tim also grows potatoes, which he was also very worried about until recent rains in the past couple of weeks. The majority of these potatoes are destined for the processing or chipping market. Tim reflects on the reasons behind the large increase in the contract price 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

This is the final Tillage Edge podcast highlighting the best of the Teagasc Crops Open Day held in Oak Park, Carlow.

On this episode, Louise McNamara and Stephen Byrne, researchers in Oak Park, discuss the extensive research which will underpin BYDV advice in the future.

Deirdre Doyle, a technologist in Teagasc, outlines the recommendations around ramularia control in barley and Sinead Dermody, a PhD student, who is investigating how to increase beta glutens in barley, discusses her research so far.

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 is the third of four shows highlighting content from the Teagasc Crops Open Day in Oak Park Carlow and this week’s Tillage Edge focuses on the different establishment systems, cover crops and the environment.

First, Jack Jameson, a PhD student in Teagasc, talks about different establishment systems and farmer perceptions about these systems.

We get an update from John Mahon, the Tillage Signpost advisor in Teagasc, about the changes which can be made on farms to benefit the environment.

We also hear from Richie Hackett, a crop agronomy researcher in Teagasc, who says cover crops have multiple uses for a farmer and the environment, including adding organic matter to the soil, preventing erosion, mopping up leachable nitrogen and improving the overall soil health.

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 is the second of four shows from the Teagasc Crops Open Day in Oak Park Carlow and this episode of the Tillage Edge podcast is focusing on protein crops.

You’ll hear from Ciaran Collins, a tillage specialist in Teagasc, to set the scene about agronomy and where the protein industry can be developed.

Sheila Alves, a Teagasc researcher in bean agronomy, highlights the huge potential to increase production by using intercropping of beans and peas.

Sinead Fitzsimons, a researcher in the U-Protein project, outlines how specific processes can add value to proteins with the resulting products excellent for the food ingredients market.

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 is the first of four shows highlighting some of the research from the Crops Research Open day in Oak Park.

Ewen Mullins, the Head of Crops Research in Oak Park, said that the aim of the open day is to equip farmers with new knowledge and give them an insight into the new research areas that Teagasc Crops Research are working on.

Dermot Forristal, a researcher in Teagasc, also chats about the machinery demonstrations on the day, while Lisa Ryan, a researcher in Teagasc, talks about the new Brewing and Distilling hub in Oak Park.

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

Garett Browne, along with his brother Mark, farms just outside Enniscorthy, Co Wexford and on the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Garett discusses the highs and lows of 2023 so far as well as reflecting on his establishment system successes and challenges.

Garett is running a min-till and strip till establishment system across a range of crops and is very happy with both systems. However Garett says that each system throws up their challenges each year.

The spring barley on the farm is not looking promising for harvest. Crops are thin and short and Garrett says that despite excellent establishment ,the rain didn’t come in time and the crops suffered.

Garett is happy with the winter crops and feels there is plenty of potential in these.

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 Crops Open Day, which is held every two years, brings the Oak Park Crop Research Programme to the public, supported by Researchers, PhD students and Advisors and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr. Ewen Mullins, Head of Crops Research, and Dermot Forristal, a researcher in crops and mechanisation, join Michael Hennessy to preview the event which takes place on Wednesday, June 21st.

We are again adopting ‘the event within an event’ style which incorporates a mechanisation related theme, in conjunction with the Irish Farmers Journal, which this year deals with stubble cultivation and crop establishment.

This year there are four elements delivered across five demo areas:

Oak Park research programme.
Stubble cultivation and Cover crop establishment machinery demo (with IFJ)
Mechanical weed control in Horticultural crops (with IFJ)
Support stands

The Teagasc Crops Research Open Day takes place on Wednesday, June 21st.

This is a free event and everyone is welcome. Put this in your diary now and for more details go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/cropsopenday.php

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, in Kilkenny, is using a direct drill system to establish his crops every year and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, he chats to Michael Hennessy about the lessons learned over the years using the direct drill establishment system and how his soils are changing over time.

Eoin said that despite his plans to establish everything in the autumn, he soon realised a good rotation incorporating spring crops was critical to the success of the system.

He said that he often uses a disc in the spring to help ground to dry out and warm up to achieve a more timely planting.

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

For this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy visited Michael Grace’s farm in Clane, Co Kildare to chat about the strip-till establishment system on the farm.

Michael Grace explains that yields are as good as any of his neighbours and he is very happy with the system. In order to use strip-till successfully he emphasises that it is critical to have a good rotation and also to only work the soils when it is sufficiently dry enough.

Michael uses strip-till to establish all of his crops from winter wheats, winter barleys, beans, oilseed rape to a range of spring crops. He says the system has worked well for early and late sown spring barley. However Michael did caution about the potential for grass weeds to increase rapidly.

The Teagasc Crops Research Open Day takes place on Wednesday, June 21st.

This is a free event and everyone is welcome. Put this in your diary now and for more details go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/cropsopenday.php

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 the very wet weather over the past two months, winter oilseed rape has grown strongly but these conditions are also good for foliar disease development.

Dr. Stephen Kildea joins the Tillage Edge podcast this week to talk about disease levels in oilseed rape and if control is necessary.

Dr. Kildea encourages all growers to walk their fields to look for Phoma and Light Leaf Spot (LLS) and recommends if LLS is not visible to take some leaf samples put in a bag, leave in a warm environment and assess after a couple of days.

If no disease is present then there is probably no need to apply a fungicide.

Stephen also goes through the disease threshold levels before control is necessary.

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 new CAP starts in January 2023 and it brings with it new rules which farmers need to follow to receive their payments.

Michael Moloney, from the Department of Agriculture, joins the Tillage Edge podcast to chat through some of the changes around conditionality, especially land management issues.

Michael explains that, even though there are some new rules, most of the rules in the new CAP will be familiar to most farmers.

Michael also points to the interaction of the Nitrate regulations, especially around the establishment of green cover, as one of the major changes for tillage farmers.

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 wet autumn has slowed crop emergence and given soil pests such as slugs an upper hand to inflict damage on emerging crops and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, discusses how to monitor numbers and deploy control measures where necessary.

Ciaran explains that slug damage could come in a number of forms from grazing leaves, seed hollowing or cutting the emerging stem just below the ground.

Ciaran recommends setting up slug traps and following threshold numbers before applying control measures.

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

Tillage farmers will be required to register for the Fertiliser Database with the Department of Agriculture from January next year.

Finbarr Regan from the Department of Agriculture talks to Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast about how farmers will interact with the fertiliser register when buying fertilisers in 2023.

Finbarr explains that all farmers purchasing fertiliser will be required to register their herd number on the database and will be required to give their Herd Number to the merchant every time fertiliser is purchased.

The merchant will then upload this data to the DAFM database allowing tracking of all purchases.

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 weather through 2022 has adversely affected potato yields and a reduction of at least 15% is expected.

The very wet weather has delayed harvest and more yield losses are expected from these unharvested crops.

On the Tillage Edge this week Shay Phelan, a potato specialist in Teagasc, discusses how potato farmers are coping with the wet conditions and extremely high costs this year.

Shay says that there is approximately 20-30% of the potato crop unharvested and higher field losses can be expected.

Shay also says that not only will growers spend more money on harvesting and storage of these crops, but the storage losses will also be higher.

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

Later sown crops that did not receive a pre-emergence herbicide present more challenges for growers to control grass weeds this autumn and Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist, joined the Tillage Edge podcast to discuss how to manage these later sown crops over the coming months, including weed control options.

Ciaran emphasises the importance of early control of annual meadow grass in winter barley as there are no options later in the season. Where a pre-emerge is not applied, then a post-emerge application can be effective, as long as the annual meadow grass is not into the tillering stage.

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

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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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

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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

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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In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

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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

Continuing 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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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

Continuing 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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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 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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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 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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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

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 Dillion 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

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of podcasts which are most appealing and beneficial to you the listener, it would be appreciated if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey to give your feedback:

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

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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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of the Tillage Edge podcast which are most appealing and beneficial to you, it would be great if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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 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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of the Tillage Edge podcast which are most appealing and beneficial to you, it would be great if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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

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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of the Tillage Edge podcast which are most appealing and beneficial to you, it would be great if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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

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.

Podcast Survey

In order to understand the aspects of the Tillage Edge podcast which are most appealing and beneficial to you, it would be great if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete the following survey:

https://forms.office.com/r/mDZTE9zPy4

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 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.

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.

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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:

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

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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/

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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

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

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

Andy Mahon, an Irish man and farm manager of a large farm in the UK, returns to the Tillage Edge this week to discuss with Michael Hennessy how his season went from June to December this year.

Andy reported exceptional yields (11t/ha) from his winter wheats in 2021 (on a direct drill system) but was disappointed with the spring wheat.

Andy described the harvest as ‘the wettest dry weather’ they had for some time and by that. he meant the dull weather over harvest slowed drying and most grains were harvested at 17-18 MC, or very similar to an Irish harvest.

Andy commented that the autumn drilling went extremely, well given all the good weather. However, knowing what he knows now, he would have preferred to delay planting for at least a couple of weeks to help control blackgrass on 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

Tom Tierney, a farmer in North Kildare, who converted to a direct drill system six years ago, and Ivan Whitten, his Teagasc advisor, join Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss Tom’s farming system and how sustainability is at the core of all his decisions.

Teagasc have set up a network of farms, under the Signpost Farm banner, to help demonstrate sustainable practices and Tom Tierney is participating as one of these farms. Other farmers will get a chance in the coming year to visit Tom’s farm and explore his system as to where he is making gains around the environment and sustainability.

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

2021 will be remembered by most people as an excellent year for tillage farmers. However the year wasn’t without its ups and downs in terms of weather and other events and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy looks back on 2021 with Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, tillage specialists in Teagasc, to hear how it treated tillage farmers.

Ciaran first highlighted the issues around the cold conditions during the spring and how farmers managed with these conditions, but both Shay and Ciaran said that 2021 will be remembered as being an almost perfect year for getting work completed and also for increased income.

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, a farmer from Kildare, joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to talk about his farming business in Romania.

The company that Jim manages is farming close to 20,000 hectares, employs over 150 staff and ships all of the grain grown through the Black Sea port in Constanta.

Jim gives a fascinating insight into the farming business which grows a wide range of crops including soya, wheat, sun flowers, sugar beet, oilseed rape and more.

He told the podcast how the changes put in place over the past few years have increased yields on the farm but he is still at the mercy of the weather.

The dry conditions have hampered wheat germination and this is a problem across Ukraine and Russia also.

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

Dermot Forristal, Oak Park, Teagasc joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss getting machines ready for the winter.

Dermot focuses on protecting sprayers from frost and says that any heavy frost can cause damage but the most damaging time tends to be a sustained period of frosty weather over a week or so.

Dermot recommends larger sprayers would need 10-15L of concentrated antifreeze mixed at a 30% dilution rate should be sufficient for temperatures in Ireland.

This quantity of liquid should be sufficient to circulate through all elements of the sprayer including the spray lines.

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

John Crowley, a tillage farmer in Wexford, has been working closely with Teagasc to improve his profitability in the past few years as part of the Teagasc/Boortmalt Joint Programme and he joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast.

John is also interested in reducing his GHG emission on the farm in areas such as cover crops and straw incorporation, as well as hedgerow/forestry management and is looking forward to measuring these changes as part of the Teagasc Signpost Programme.

Eoin Lyons, his joint programme advisor, has been working with John to improve yield and the quantities of malting barley delivered in spec to Boortmalt.

John and Eoin have been targeting seedbed consolidation to improve plant establishment. Various trials have shown getting this correct has resulted in an increase of 50 plants per metre squared. This adds to the yield and ultimately profitability of the system.

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

Fertiliser prices continue to rise putting pressure on crop margins for 2022. Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, Teagasc Tillage Specialists, join Michael Hennessy on this week's Tillage Edge podcast with practical ways to reduce your farm's dependence on chemical fertilisers and also how to make the most of every kilogram purchased.

Shay explains how a grower applying good quality cattle slurry (3,000 gal/ac) to 50 acres can save €6,000 on chemical fertiliser (not including the costs of slurry spreading). Similarly Ciaran outlined a change in farm rotation, by maximising beans, could save 7 tonnes of CAN in 2022.

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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Oilseed rape crops have powered ahead this year and most crops are in great shape for the winter. Plantings of oilseed rape are up by 30% and forward prices are up by nearly 50%.

But, disease control is important in all crops to ensure full yields are realised and Dr. Stephen Kildea, from Teagasc, joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss disease and growth regulation control in rape.

Stephen said both Phoma and Light Leaf Spot were a problem and need to be controlled in most crops. Walking crops and assessing disease levels is important and in addition to assess if a growth regulator is necessary.

Stephen stressed the need to control disease but also to have a large green canopy next spring to minimise nitrogen inputs.

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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Aphids are BYDV vectors and controlling aphid spread in cereals is important and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Louise McNamara, from Oak Park, joined Michael Hennessy to discuss aphids and the threat of BYDV for Autumn 2021.

The first step towards controlling aphid spread is to delay the date of planting which reduces the length of time the crop is exposed to high aphid numbers.

Louise explained that aphids flying into crops will result in a primary infection, however the progeny of these aphids can often be more damaging to crops but this is dependent on plenty of mild weather through the winter.

Louise added that research tells us that earlier sown crops will need to receive an aphicide at the two to three leaf stage and again in early November.

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 Tillage TAMS scheme is designed to help tillage farmers modernise whilst addressing challenges like reducing pesticides and increasing farm safety and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy was joined by Oliver Molloy from the Department of Agriculture, to chat through the ins and outs of a farmer applying for a grant.

Firstly, Oliver explained that there are over 2,000 applicants paid out so far with a total of €19 million distributed to tillage farmers.

He said that farmers applying need to ensure the application is in the correct name (as per the BPS application) and the payment for the piece of equipment is from that farmer’s bank account.

The next tranche of the Tillage TAMS closes on November 5th this year and for more details go to:

https://www.gov.ie/en/service/fb5ed7-tillage-capital-investment-scheme/#tillage-capital-investment-scheme-conditions

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 majority of seed sown on tillage farms every year is Department of Agriculture certified seed and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, it’s part two of the seed story that tracks the seeds journey from the seed growers field through the seed assembler to the final customer.

Gerry Lohan, from the Seed Inspection Division of the Department of Agriculture, outlines the checks made by inspectors and laboratory tests carried out to ensure the quality is maintained. Gerry describes the zero tolerance for wild oats, bromes and blackgrass that are an integral part of the process.

Tim O’Donovan, Seedtech, describes the checks and balances carried out on seed as it goes through the seed assembly plant and also the decision matrix to decide on the most appropriate seed dressing for seed before it reaches the final customer.

For more on combinable seed production visit the Department of Agriculture website here: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/99d2c1-guide-to-seed-certification-combinable-crops/

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 majority of seed sown on tillage farms every year is Department of Agriculture certified seed and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, it is the first in a two-part series that tracks the seed’s journey from breeder through an Irish seed assembler, taking in the seed grower along the way.

Donal Fitzgerald, Goldcrop joins Michael Hennessy to chat about the process of assembling seed and outlines the important checks in place to ensure quality, while Liam Day, a Cork seed producer, also joined the podcast and talked about his experiences as a seed producer for many years.

Part 2 next week, tracks the seed from leaving the seed grower’s field, through drying, storage and packaging, all the way to the final user of the seed.

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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Weed control is one of the first jobs that needs to be completed after a crop has been planted with a number of options available and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, tillage specialists Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins join Michael Hennessy to discuss this topic in more detail.

Weed control options can be divided into pre or post emergence of the crop and Shay explains that pre emergence has many advantages over post emergence including better control of some broad leaves and grass weeds especially annual meadow grass, sterile brome, etc.

Meanwhile, Ciaran Collins says the options for winter barley are narrow to control annual meadow grass but growers should be careful when applying a pre-emerge especially if the crop is close to emergence.

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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Day 2 of the National Crops Forum delved into carbon farming and nitrate leaching on tillage farms and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, you’ll hear from the excellent questions and answers sessions from the forum.

Dr Gary Lanigan from Teagasc told the forum that even though the corporate world is very interested in sustainability and carbon capture it remains to be seen who will pay farmers for any carbon capture in the future.

Eddie Burgess, Teagasc, maintained that even though tillage farming is relatively efficient in nutrient use, the very nature of our tillage soils makes them liable to releasing nitrates into rivers if the ground is left fallow. A good green cover or cover crop is the best way to trap nitrates in the field so that it can be available to the farmer for later use.

The full webinar can be found on the Teagasc Crops YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ULZJhwV08

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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Day 1 of the National Crops Forum highlighted important information on varieties, septoria and grain markets which is worth listening to if you missed it the first time around.

The new varieties of winter barley, wheat and oats were discussed, as well as the influence of sowing dates on septoria control for the season with John Joe Byrne from the Department of Agriculture and Teagasc’s Stephen Kildea.

Phelim Dolan, from Comex McKinnon, shared his thoughts on the prospects for grain for the coming months. He strongly suggests all growers look closely at markets and take a profit when it’s there as it may not be around for long.

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast you’ll hear the questions and answers between Michael Hennessy and the speakers.

The full webinar can be found on the Teagasc Crops YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR1LyJxDjO0dFywu6Y3OXnw

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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Hedgerows are a very important resource within our landscape but over-management is an issue on tillage farms according to Dr Catherine Keena, a Countryside Management Specialist in Teagasc who joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast.

Catherine encourages farmers to leave some of the hedgerows unmanaged each year to let plants flower which is good for pollinators, and the resulting fruit, which provides vital food for wildlife through the year.

She also highlights the number of bee species which use hedgerows throughout the year and explained how there are over fifty-five species of birds which nest in hedgerows each 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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Headlands occupy a significant proportion of fields, particularly in an Irish context – for example, a 24 metre headland makes up 50% of the total area on a 4 hectare field. Meanwhile, the increasing size and weight of machinery is a threat to soil structure and its ability to produce crops efficiently is a concern.

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Mark Ward joined Michael Hennessy to discuss his work in this area.

Mark reported variable yields on headlands with yield reductions of up to 30% recorded at the field edge. The importance of correctly setting fertiliser spreaders for accurate headland applications was stressed. Fertiliser spreading on headlands tends to be uneven and Mark recorded application rates varying from 80-120% of the target rate.

Soil structural quality differed across headlands with the poorest structure documented in the zone where all machine turns are concentrated. Mark advises all growers to grab a spade and investigate the soil structural condition on their headlands. This will focus growers on maintaining output on headlands by protecting the soils.

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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On this week’s Tillage Edge Podcast Shay Phelan talks to soil specialist Mark Plunkett about the impact of the rising cost of fertilisers on tillage farms.

This increase in prices has led to a renewed interest in the use of organic manures on tillage farms.

Mark discusses the value and costs of the different manures available, the practicalities of using them and the crops most likely to benefit the most from using organic manures.

Mark also discusses their impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as overall fertiliser costs to the farmers.

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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On this week’s Tillage Edge Podcast Shay Phelan talks to three advisors around the country for latest on the harvest.

Broken weather over the last few weeks has slowed down the progress of the harvest so Shay spoke to Conor Kavanagh in Tipperary, Ciaran Hickey in Enniscorthy and John Brophy in Louth to get a view from their areas.

While the harvest has been a stop-start affair so far, some of the highlights according to the three advisers has been above-average yields, good quality grain, low proteins in malting barley and a good demand for straw.

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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Cover crops can be useful for many different functions in a field but some farmers see them as an inconvenience both to plant and to manage before the next crop.

Richie Hackett, a researcher in Teagasc, Oak Park, Carlow, has been working with cover crops for over 10 years and joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to go through some of his findings - especially the advantages of planting cover crops early.

Richie explained how cover crops are useful for mopping up nitrogen, growing organic matter, reducing soil erosion, helping soil structure and soil health and can supply nitrogen to the next crop.

Richie advocated planting early as trials show a 2t DM/ha reduction in crops grown for every three week delay in planting from late July. He was surprised by the scale of the differences but said that all crops were ploughed back in before the next crop without difficulty or the use of glyphosate.

Richie has produced a video outlining the advantages of planting cover crops early: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P7nShiQLrc

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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Many growers are switching between harvesting and planting this month to get their winter oilseed rape planted and on this week’s Tillage Edge, Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy to give an insight into the advantages of getting the crop planted in August rather than September.

Ciaran points to the increased growth, giving the plant more resilience against pests early in the season, bird attacks later in the season and how the crop will take up more nitrogen allowing for saving in the spring, as all beneficial factors.

Growers should select varieties carefully, he advises, as resistance to light leaf spot is very important in the Irish climate. The DAFM recommended list is a good place to start looking for information. There are other sources of information especially from the UK however, growers should look at these sources carefully as they don’t fully translate to growing conditions in Ireland.

Ciaran also points out the advantages and disadvantages of the different weed control options available to farmers. Pre-emerge has advantages in controlling chickweed and speedwell whereas post-emergence applications are necessary for grass weed control and for some broad leaf weeds like fumitory.

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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Close to 2,000 farmers signed up to incorporate some or all of their straw this year and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dermot Forristal joins Michael Hennessy to chat through the main factors to take into consideration when incorporating straw.

Dermot explains that depth of incorporation can be quite flexible from 5cm up to 10 cm with good soil to straw contact heeling with a more rapid breakdown.

Soils in a non-inversion system may be able to cope with straw raking, which stirs the straw on the surface with some clay and is reliant on soil worms to help the mixing process.

The breakdown process can result in a demand for nitrogen as straw has a high Carbon to Nitrogen ratio. However trials suggest the application of extra nitrogen is not needed to help the breakdown process as there is sufficient freely available soil nitrogen.

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 potential of combines or indeed other machinery to spread weeds is now a serious concern for most farmers as grass weeds such as blackgrass, canary grass and wild oats can be easily spread and this is more worrying when these weeds may be herbicide resistant.

Dermot Forristal and Brendan Bourke joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss machinery hygiene at harvest.

Dermot explained that a large combine can cover over 900 hectares over the season which could be as much as 70 average size fields. Each of these fields will have different weed burdens and the potential for spread of seeds from field to field is enormous.

Brendan Bourke outlined the main areas where weeds can build up on the combine and the best tools to use to dislodge these weeds. Brendan strongly recommends a cleaning routine on a daily basis, for fire safety reasons, but also to prevent weeds spreading by the combine.

The advice to farmers who are using contractors over the harvest is to discuss the need for weed-free machinery before the contractor comes to the field.

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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On this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge podcast, Shay Phelan catches up with Tim Bergin who is a Dublin farmer now farming near Slupsk in North West Poland.

Tim spoke to the Tillage Edge earlier in the year but Shay got an update on the season so far on his farm and the prospects for the harvest not only in Poland but all across Europe.

Tim also spoke about the impact of drought on his potato crop and the impact on yields and supply.

Like in Ireland, Covid 19 and Brexit are having an effect in Poland and Tim describes the issues that have affected his business but also the potential opportunities that may arise as a consequence.

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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On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Shay Phelan catches up with Teagasc advisors Michael McCarthy in Cork, Conor O’Callaghan in Dublin and Martin McCullough in Donegal to see how crops are looking in their respective areas and the prospects for the upcoming harvest.

There were differences in the seasons in the areas with weather having significant effects on crop growth, disease pressure and subsequently crop potential.

The lads also discussed the impact of the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) and the impact it had on the straw market and the prospects for grain.

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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Last week, Teagasc broadcast the second in the series of ECT grass weed webinars.

This episode focused on blackgrass control and caught up with two ECT focus farmers about their experiences operating a non-plough based system: Gareth Culligan, from Louth, who is practicing a no till system and Michael Grace, from north Kildare, who shared his experiences using a strip till system.

Both of these farmers participated in an excellent question and answer session which is worth listening to again on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge. Shay Phelan, a Tillage Specialist from Oak Park Carlow, chaired the sessions.

Michael Grace reported that the cultural measures like grass margins were working extremely well on the farm and he intended to extend the use of these this year.

Gareth Culligan, the ECT farmer in Louth, said the key to his system is to have patience (especially at planting), devise a good rotation and use cover crops where possible.

The full video of the webinar can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoS6sEFqUI

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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Factors such the loss of key fungicides and new emerging blight variants are all challenging established blight control practices and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy was joined by Shay Phelan, a potato Specialist in Oak Park, to discuss blight control in potatoes.

The loss of Mancozeb as a key blight control product puts pressure on the existing products and Shay recommends growers should sit down early in the season to sequence the use of these products to ensure maximum label use is not exceeded throughout the season.

Shay then explained that the new blight variant (37A2) now means Fluazinam (or Shirlan) cannot be relied upon to give the same level of blight protection and should only be used in mixtures with other fungicides.

He also added that the blight forecasting model used by Met Eireann is now improved following research carried out by Teagasc in Oak Park, Carlow.

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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Andy Mahon, the Dubliner who is a farm manager in the east of the England, re-joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge with an update on his year so far.

The farm has a range of winter and spring crops and Andy has managed the farm to a no-till system over the past few years. Generally planting with a no-till system starts later than conventional systems.

Andy started planting a little later than normal in early April. The ground dried out quickly and crops went in good conditions however the wetter weather after planting prompted Andy to reflect and perhaps using a tined machine would have been a little better as it would have allowed more drainage compared the disc (Horizon) drill which was used.

Crops on Andy’s farm are looking well with good yield potential. This reflects an overall trend in the east of England and Andy thinks there is excellent potential in the winter crops in particular.

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 week’s Tillage Edge discusses how grassweed control has become more important on all tillage farms and especially on non-plough based systems.

Controlling wild oats has become even more challenging with the emergence of herbicide resistance in a small number of populations in counties across the southeast. Increasing populations of sterile brome and canary grass has added to the control challenges on farm.

The Teagasc ECT project has been working with farmers through the country who have different establishment systems and the recent ECT webinar caught up with a number of these farmers who have converted to non-plough based systems and the questions and answers session is worth listening to again.

Watch the full video of the webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJXMr9OvF-I

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 media is always trying to find - or at least tell us about - the next super food. Oats have a number of advantages over other cereals as they are nutritious, help people to live longer due to beta glucans, and are gluten free.

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy is joined by Mariea O’Toole, Grain quality operations manager at Glanbia to find out how they have developed new markets for oats over the past 12 years and are going from strength to strength.

Mariea explained to Michael that the business has developed many new products and markets especially in the past 3-4 years The most recent product is hydrolysed and non hydrolysed flour which can be used in plant based yoghurts, drinks and bakery products.

Mariea said the fact that oats are gluten free is a big selling point and both the company supply chain and farmers growing the oats are monitored very carefully. Field inspections, tightly controlled harvesting, in-house sampling, etc. all give consumers confidence in the Glanbia closed loop system.

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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Disease control in wheat is an important aspect to achieving high yields and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy chatted to Dr Stephen Kildea, a researcher in Oak Park and Ivan Whitten, a Teagasc advisor in Kildare, to discuss how to achieve robust disease control in winter wheat.

Ivan pointed out that the cold dry weather in March and April delayed growth and disease development and as a result, farmers applied the first main fungicide later than usual with these farmers now well placed to apply the flag leaf fungicide to the flag leaf fully expanded in the coming week.

Dr Stephen Kildea pointed out that the recent wet weather has spread septoria up the canopy and there is a high likelihood there is latent or unseen septoria in the upper canopy.

This increased threat means there is a need for curative action and the newer chemistries (Revysol and Inotreq) are best placed to deliver the best septoria control this 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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All growers are aware that disease control is needed in spring barley, however, selecting the correct products and the correct timing will determine if the farmer gets value for money and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Deirdre Doyle, a researcher in Teagasc, told Michael Hennessy that disease levels are low at the moment but this can change especially as the weather is very showery at the moment.

Deirdre highlighted the potential net blotch issues with Planet and discussed how to cope with fungicide resistance in crops.

Meanwhile, also on the podcast, Eoin Lyons, the Teagasc/Boortmalt program advisor, discussed the jobs which are piling up for farmers at the moment in spring crops and the best ways to sequence these jobs.

Finally getting the best from fungicides means getting the timing correct, mistime it and you risk losing 0.5t/ha.

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 average farmer can put close to €15,000 worth of plant protection products through the sprayer each year. Given all of these PPP are applied to do a specific job there is a huge incentive for the farmer to make sure the spray hits the target and works effectively

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy is joined by Ciaran Collins, a tillage specialist in Cork, who outlined the essential components of the STRIPE tool and how to minimise spray drift on farm.

Michael McCarthy, Teagasc advisor in Cork stepped through the practicalities of using STRIPE as an advisor and commented that it looks simple but needs some work to put it into practice.

John Kelleher, a farmer from Cork, was also on the podcast and talked about his spraying operation and how the newly purchased sprayer is helping to target the spray application to where it was intended.

John goes into some detail to compare the new sprayer, which is fitted with low drift nozzles, compared to his old air assisted sprayer.

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 week Teagasc held the latest edition in the series of Crop Agronomy Webinars looking at different crops through the season.

The question and answer sessions from the webinar are worth listening to again as there is a lot of useful information which will help with your agronomy decisions over the next number of weeks.

Dermot Forristal and Francis Quigley, both from Teagasc, talk through the options for reducing drift control and how to select the correct nozzles, water rate and pressure. The experts also chat through how to get the best coverage in different crops.

John Pettit, a Teagasc advisor in Wexford, talked through management of winter cereals and he said the dry weather and the resulting lower disease pressure gives some scope to better tailoring fungicide spends this year.

Other crops also addressed in the webinar included beet beans and spring barley.

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 cold dry weather with late frosts have slowed growth and hampered crop management for farmers and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy is joined by Veronica Nyhan and Eoin Lyons with an update on the progress of winter crops.

Despite a really good start for spring crops, fields are slowly greening up but soils are very dry and soil moisture deficits were touching 40mm at the start of the week.

Veronica Nyham, a tillage advisor in Laois explained that a number of spring crops are struggling due to pest damage and perhaps sub optimal conditions at planting.

Eoin Lyons, Teagasc/Boortmalt joint program advisor in Wexford, said these poorer crops were mainly confined to the very early planted crops, with a plant stands of 250 plants per meter squared in many crops.

Both Veronica and Eoin also discussed the necessity of completing key agronomic tasks in the coming week despite the cool conditions. The main tasks discussed are plant growth regulators to barley and oats and the main fungicide to winter wheat.

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

And don’t forget to register for the Teagasc monthly crop agronomy webinars with the next one on May 4th.

For more information go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/cropagronomywebinar4.php

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On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Shay Phelan and Dr. Stephen Kildea, specialists in Teagasc, Oakpark join Michael Hennessy to discuss this topic in more detail.

Firstly, Shay outlines why the leaf three is important and how to dissect a plant to identify the flag leaf and also the leaf three.

You can watch a video on this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upC54GRDQuM

Stephen meanwhile, outlines why leaf three is key to a successful fungicide strategy and he discusses the factors to consider before choosing specific fungicides.

Stephen also discusses the effects of the recent dry weather on disease levels and how this will influence control strategies through the season.

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

And don’t forget to register for the Teagasc monthly crop agronomy webinars with the next one on May 4th.

For more information go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/cropagronomywebinar4.php

Tim Bergin, a Dubliner, who is farming in Poland close to the Baltic sea joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to explain his experience of farming there.

Tim moved to Poland in 2002 and is now farming close to 1,200 ha of sandy loam soils. The total rainfall in the area is similar to Ireland but it’s drier than he would like in April and May.

Tim grows a mix of winter wheat, oilseed rape and potatoes as his main crops on the farm. Farm yields of potatoes and oilseed rape are similar or higher than Ireland and winter wheats are lower yielding, at 8 t/ha, but this is milling quality.

Potatoes are mostly grown for processing for making chips for McDonalds (variety Russet Burbank) and Tim would like to start growing more seed as it’s a good area for high quality production.

He runs a min-till system with four full time staff and maintains that his machinery outlay is smaller than a similar farm in Ireland, however he still thinks the costs are too high.

The Tillage Edge podcast will get an update from Tim later in the year to see how farming is going in his area.

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

And don’t forget to register for the Teagasc monthly crop agronomy webinars with the next one on May 4th. Go to Teagasc.ie for more information.

Teagasc held the first in a series of Crop Agronomy Webinars this week looking at different crops through the season. Presented by Ciaran Collins, the Question and Answer sessions from the webinar are worth listening to again as there is a lot of useful information which will help with your agronomy decisions over the next number of weeks.

On the Q&A, Dr Stephen Kildea, Teagasc, Oakpark, talked about yellow rust control in winter wheat and the necessity of early control in susceptible varieties. However Stephen also pointed out that this may make septoria control more difficult later in the season.

Veronica Nyhan, a tillage advisor in Laois, talked about herbicide resistance and how a farmer can rotate crops and herbicides to reduce the potential of resistance developing on farm.

Plus there were other contributions from panellists on a wide range of agronomy issues including trace elements and wild oats control.

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

Disease control in winter barley needs to be considered carefully and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Stephen Kildea, Oak Park, Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy with advice and information.

He explained that areas such as variety resistance to disease, assessing the current disease threat and also looking forward a couple of weeks to what the weather may bring are the most important elements for devising a disease control program.

He stressed the importance of farmers walking their crops to regularly assess the disease levels and progression in crops.

Stephen also told Michael about the current disease incidence in crops around the country and gives examples of disease control actions needed for varieties in both the south and north of the country.

Finally Stephen addressed whether any changes are needed in disease control in conventional and hybrid varieties.

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

The latest Organic Farm Scheme is open to tillage farmers against the backdrop of an EU target to have 25% of all land in organic production by 2030 and on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge, Elaine Leavy, an Organic Specialist in Teagasc, joined Michael Hennessy to discuss organic tillage in more detail.

Firstly, she highlighted the fact there are some very successful organic tillage farmers but that planning is the cornerstone of organics as there are no quick fixes.

For any grower who is considering organic production, then talking to existing organic farmers is a good place to start.

Elaine also explained that there are ‘in-conversion’ payments of up to €260/ha and other capital (TAMS) grants and off farm processing grants available to organic farmers.

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

Getting the best out of every kilogram of nitrogen applied on farm is not only desirable but necessary from a financial and environmental perspective and Dr Richie Hackett from Oak Park, Teagasc joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to explain more.

He told Michael that the rainfall over winter, in almost all years, is sufficient to wash nitrogen through the soils leaving little reserves in early spring. As soils warm up (and if there is sufficient water) soils nitrogen will be released and become available to plants. The amount will vary from year to year even in the same soil.

Richie explained that there are two main areas to get right to ensure the nitrogen used is efficient. Firstly, only apply nitrogen to the crop when it needs it or apply at the correct timing, and secondly, match the amount applied as closely as possible to the crop demands. This can be difficult to do but knowing your soils and good records from previous years can help in getting the rates correct.

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

Testing soil fertility (pH, phosphate, potassium, etc.) is one of the most important jobs a farmer can do on the farm as without healthy, well-balanced soils, there is little or no foundation for high yields.

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Conor O’Callaghan, from Teagasc, Dublin and Martin Ennis, a farmer from north county Dublin, join Michael Hennessy to discuss this topic.

Conor completes nutrient management plans for farmers and strives to balance the nutrients on larger farms with no more than two compound types, a high P and low P compound, so that it is practical for farmers to apply fertiliser without too many runs through the fields.

Martin Ennis started using precision soil sampling (a sample from every hectare) on his farm and has found the resulting savings in lime spreading (using a variable lime spreader) in the first year more than paid for the extra costs.

Martin is now using a variable rate fertiliser spreader and only applying P and K where needed. He uses a compound to apply the base rates of fertiliser and then precision places the final quantities of P and K, where needed, according to application maps (from the detailed soil analysis).

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

This week Teagasc hosted the first in a new series of Crop Agronomy webinars. As with other webinars the questions asked by farmers and answered by an expert panel during the webinar are worth listening to again.

This episode of the Tillage Edge covers the Q&A sessions covering winter barley, winter oats and preparing for planting spring beans and spring barley for the coming season.

Shay Phelan a Specialist in Teagasc chaired an expert panel of Mark Plunkett, Ciaran Collins and Stephen Kildea, all from Teagasc, for the first round of questions.

Clarity was given as to the criteria which farmers should look for before applying early nitrogen to crops and also the level and timings of plant growth regulators on winter oats.

Winter barley disease control is covered in some depth by Stephen Kildea. Stephen stressed growers should aim to avoid stressing barleys at early growth through the applications of herbicides/PGR, etc. as this stress may induce more Ramularia in crops in June.

You can also view the entire crop agronomy webinar on the Teagasc Crops YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XXeBcprgYI

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

Teagasc hosted a Malting barley webinar on Tuesday 23rd of February which covered many areas such as liquid nitrogen, cover crops, ramularia and the activities as part of the Teagasc Boortmalt joint programme.

The questions and answers section was particularly interesting as there were some really interesting angles covered and its worth listening to these again on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast.

The expert panel included Deirdre Doyle, Eoin Lyons, Stephen Kildea, Ciaran Hickey and Richie Hackett, all from Teagasc as well as Tom Bryan from Boortmalt. The questions revolved around the topics on the webinar but also included questions about malting barley contracts, components of yield in barley, general barley disease control and more.

If you would like to see a video of the entire webinar go to the Teagasc Crops YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6vM546rTu8

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

Plus, don’t forget to register for the next in the monthly series of Teagasc agronomy webinars taking place from 1130-1230pm next Tues 2nd March.

You can register for the event at: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/wintercropagronomywebinar.php

Teagasc hosted a Winter Crops Agronomy update webinar on Tuesday 9th February which covered the management needs of winter barley, winter wheat and oilseed rape for the coming few weeks.

This week’s Tillage Edge podcast features the questions and answer session from that webinar between attendees and Teagasc experts.

The first section covered winter barley agronomy and Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialist in Teagasc posed the questions to the panel of Shay Phelan, Michael McCarthy, Richie Hackett and Jimmy Staples with questions around management of conventional and hybrid barleys and nutrition in all crops.

The next part moved on to how managing winter oilseed rape for the coming weeks will centre on assessing the Green Area index in crops and adjusting nitrogen rates to achieve optimum canopies at flowering.

Finally grass weed and control of sterile brome was debated by the expert panel.

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

Plus, don’t forget to register for the next Teagasc crops webinar on malting barley which is being held on Tuesday 23rd February from 1130-1230pm.

You can register for the event at: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/daily/crops/title-95646-en.php

Andy Mahon, from Dublin, is a farm manager on the Bromborough Estate Farm in North Bedfordshire, which is roughly halfway between London and Birmingham and firmly in the heart of arable country and he joins Michael Hennessy on this week's Tillage Edge podcast.

Andy has worked hard on the costs of production on the farm and is the only full time employee managing close to 750 hectares of land. Andy has full-time help for about 8 months of the year and also some help with seasonal labour at drilling and harvest.

The long term farm rainfall for the farm is around 550mm per year (Carlow is 850mm per year) and the average yields (dry) on the farm are as follows; winter wheat 9.5t/ha, spring wheat 6.5t/ha, spring beans 4-4.5 t/ha.

In the past 8 years the Bromborough Estate transitioned from plough based establishment system to min-till, then to strip till and are now full converted to a zero or no-till establishment system.

The switch has helped enormously in labour efficiency, however Andy said it has taken a huge amount of effort and learning to get to what he regards as a sustainable system now. The integration of cover crops, spring cropping and improved control of grass weeds have been a particular focus of the transition.

And don’t forget to join us for Day 2 of the virtual 2021 National Conference on Feb 17th.

Register in advance at: 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/

Image credit: FWI.co.uk

The effects of Brexit on Irish tillage farmers is the topic on this week's Tillage Edge podcast with economists, farmers and machinery suppliers all featuring from the recent Spring Tillage Webinar.

Tillage farmers were always likely to be the least affected whether there was a Brexit agreement or not according to Fiona Thorne, an economist in Teagasc. However, areas such as goods stuck in the supply chain and registrations of plant protection products may be affected and this could become apparent in the coming months.

Despite the difficulties with imports of seed potatoes, Charlie Doherty, a Donegal potato farmer, believes it could open a door for Irish producers to produce more seed and is an area that Ireland should exploit.

Importing tractors will be more difficult but not impossible according to Brian Lacy from Paddy Lacy tractors in Ferns. Brain said there will be some import delays and it may add 2-4 weeks to imports however he is still waiting on some direction from Revenue to judge this properly.

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

And don’t forget to join us for Day 2 of the virtual 2021 National Conference on Feb 17th.

Register in advance at: https://www.teagasc.ie/tillagemonth/

Scotland has a similar climate to ours and the research carried out there is more comparable to Irish farms than work from continental US or Europe and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Cathy Hawes, from the James Hutton Institute near Dundee in Scotland joins Michael Hennessy to discuss the Scottish experience of maximising rotations.

She explains that in the region she works in, they have similar rainfall totals to Carlow but average yields of wheat and barley are a little lower than Irish yields.

Cathy is an ecologist working on a large scale trial looking at a broad suite of system outcomes from the trial. These parameters include economic, yield mapping, crop diseases, soil quality, carbon storage, biodiversity, infield weeds, etc. Within the trial, different establishment systems, including the direct drill system, is looked at under a six year rotation (which includes potatoes).

This long term trial has produced some interesting results already. Cathy points to the benefits of increasing soil carbon which has increased nutrient efficiency and also results in a better performing soil to suppress harmful soil pathogens.

Cathy believes the results of the work can be very useful to farmers, especially where strategies can be combined to give benefits both economically and to the wider environment.

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

And don’t forget to join us for the virtual 2021 National Conference split over two days on Feb 3rd and Feb 17th. Register in advance at: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/2021tillageconday1.php

Organic manures can supply a badly needed source of carbon to tillage soils according to Mark Plunkett, a Soils and Plant Nutrition Specialist in Teagasc on the latest Tillage Edge podcast.

Mark told Michael Hennessy that a typical dressing of 20 tonnes per hectare of farm yard manure will supply 300 kg/ha of carbon to the soil. As slurries contain more water their carbon contribution is much lower.

Mark stressed the biological benefits of organic manures to revitalise soils by improving nutrient cycling and feeding the flora and fauna such as fungus, bacteria, nematodes and earthworms. Where all of these components are functioning correctly, crops tend to be more resilient during periods of stress (wet weather or drought) and can give higher yields.

Organic manures can replace up to 50% of the chemical fertiliser applied to spring crops and are a direct replacement to the chemical fertiliser in most cases. Mark maintained that most slurries can be transported up to 15 kilometres but recommends discussing this with the slurry producer to source the most efficient transport type.

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

And don’t forget to join us for the virtual 2021 National Conference split over two days on Feb 3rd and Feb 17th.

Register in advance at: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/2021tillageconday1.php

Growing rye is becoming more of an option for farmers in recent years and on the latest episode of the Tillage Edge, Michael Hennessy speaks to Tipperary farmer, Gerard O’Mara, Teagasc tillage specialist, Ciaran Collins, and Teagasc adviser, Conor Kavanagh, to find out more.

Gerard O’Mara, has been successfully growing rye for the past number of years and he has increased the acre of rye on his farm at the expense of winter wheat and spring barley area. Gerard is quite happy with the crops performance on his farm but points out that harvesting is slower due to the high volume of straw.

Ciaran Collins, a tillage specialist in Teagasc, points out that rye can be useful to extend rotations and potentially replace second wheats on the farm. Ciaran maintains that despite the crop being referred to as a low input crop, rye does require a reasonable level of inputs. He added the crop is high yielding therefore it requires a lower input per unit of output (compared to winter wheat).

Ensuring there is a clear market for the rye grain is also very important according to Conor Kavanagh, Teagasc advisor in Tipperary (and Gerard’s advisor). Conor added that rye grain is very flexible for feed in ruminants and very suitable for pig feed and there is a small market for distilling.

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

On the final Tillage Edge podcast for the year, Michael Hennessy reviewed the 2020 growing season with Teagasc specialists Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan.

Both Shay and Ciaran pointed to the highs of a great start this spring but the weather played its part in the lows with drought in the east and storms in the south contributing to lower yields.

Despite the lower yields a good rotation and/or adding organic matter were factors which resulted in higher yields whether the crop was challenged with drought or not. Ciaran maintain growers who are on top of these two areas get higher yields year after year.

Straw yields were also reduced this year and after a very slow start of sales but sales picked up in the autumn. Although a good level of straw is sold, but yet to be delivered, it will take until the spring to clear sheds.

In 2020, policy makers have recognised tillage as an important part of Irish agriculture and as a low GHG producer compared to other systems. There is a renewed desire to feed more Irish grain to livestock and grow more indigenous proteins which will help tillage farmers for the future.

However, challenges still exist with EU policy makers encouraging farmers to use lower levels of plant protection products and fertilisers.

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

On the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Ewen Mullins from Teagasc, Oak Park joined Michael Hennessy to discuss and explain the developments in plant breeding and biotechnology.

Ewen briefly mapped breeding developments over the last 150 years before describing the different types of Genetically Modified (GM) techniques in use today.

The most used GM technique is transgenics which uses genes from one plant to transform another (these plants would not breed in the wild). He used the example of Golden Rice which used daffodil genes in rice plants to improve vitamin A levels in rice to help deficient populations in Asia.

Ewen described work being done in Teagasc which ranges from developing new GM techniques to growing GM crops but none of this work will result in crops for Irish farmers anytime soon.

However Ewen is more hopeful for gene editing or Crispr-Cas9 technologies which could be used in the medium term and when available this technique can quickly improve weaknesses in varieties already in use.

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

Dr Noel Richardson, Lecturer and Director of HealthCORE in IT Carlow, joined Michael Hennessy on the latest episode of the Tillage Edge podcast to speak about farmers’ health and research carried out for the ‘On Feirm Ground’ initiative.

On the podcast, Noel pointed to the fact that farmers need to take better care of their most precious asset: their health. The research with focus groups highlighted the major areas affecting farmer’s health which included; loneliness, feeling left behind, pressure to expand, inheritance issues and many other. There is a perception that farmers can deal with these issues without help but this attitude appears to be changing slowly.

Both male and female farmers and their spouses who were interviewed talked about how farming can be all consuming and feeling guilty about leaving the farm for other non-farming activities.

The researchers also talked to farm advisors and how they were well placed to recognise problems arising on farms. The ‘On Feirm Ground’ initiative aims to train advisors in these skills which will help to recognise and broach these topics with farmers.

Noel stressed that no matter what problem is on the farm the best method of solving the problem is to talk to someone. This could by a spouse, friend, neighbour or advisor. The key is to start a conservation. A problem shared is a problem halved.

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

Catherine Keena, Environmental Specialist in Teagasc joins Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast to talk about hedges on tillage farms and how best to manage them.

Catherine explained that hedges are excellent for both biodiversity and carbon capture. She pointed out that it’s the linear length that matters most, in that normal hedges around smaller fields are more beneficial than a larger hedge surrounding a very large field.

Catherine recommends leaving hedges a little scruffy i.e. not cutting every year, but it is important to modify hedge trimming to allow the hedge to grow to more than 1.5 metres and allow the base of the hedge to grow outwards giving an “A” shaped hedge.

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

Decreased water quality issues are widespread across Ireland regardless of area or farming system in that area and ASSAP, the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice Programme, is tasked with working with farmers to help improve water quality.

On this episode of the Tillage Edge, Fiona Doolan, ASSAP advisor in Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy to explain the programme and how the supports behind it enable a disentanglement of the source of the problem whether agricultural or non-agricultural.

Fiona also explained how nutrient leaching especially nitrates and phosphorus (as soil sediment) is the main problem in tillage areas. Fiona and her colleagues have a variety of very practical solutions which can go a long way to mitigating these challenges coming from tillage areas.

To find out more go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/water-quality/farming-for-water-quality-assap/

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

Dr. Daire O’Huallachain, an agro-ecologist in Teagasc, joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss biodiversity on the agricultural landscape.

Daire firstly explained that biodiversity in a landscape includes all the plants, insects, animals within it and that the biodiversity within an area will be a reflection of the management of that area, e.g. biodiversity in a rural area will be different compared to an agriculture landscape.

Tillage crops add to the overall biodiversity in the agricultural landscape with particular species adapted to thrive on the tillage area and are dependent on it.

Tillage is similar to other intensive farms with approximately 5-7% of the area dedicated to biodiversity habitats. However despite the quantity, Daire said the quality of these areas are often poor. Daire suggests a change, spurred on by Farm to Fork policies, to a quantity and quality of habitats and rewarding farmers with results-based payments will encourage farmers to manage habitats better and ultimately give a better outcome.

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

Dr Stephen Kildea, a plant pathologist in Teagasc and Ciaran Collins, a crops specialist in Teagasc joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss weed control at this time of year.

Ciaran began by discussing weed control in oilseed rape and he also explained that due to late planting and delayed crop development, weed control was even more important this year as crops will not be as competitive as normal this year.

Dr. Stephen Kildea said phoma is generally the first visible disease in oilseed rape. There is some varietal resistance and the resistance along with canopy size can be used as a guide to determine the threshold for disease control with fungicides.

Light Leaf Spot, a wet weather disease, emerges as a problem later in the season although not every year. As Light Leaf spot can be difficult to see in the field, growers should take leaf samples regularly and put them into a ‘hot box’ to observe if the disease is present. Control measures can then be determined.

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

Dr. Michael Gaffney, a Research Entomologist in Teagasc, joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss aphid control and BYDV.

Michael explained that even though there is some infection initially from winged aphids, only a small proportion of the problematic aphids (Grain aphid and Bird Cherry Oat aphid) actually carry the virus. It’s the offspring of these aphids which can spread more virus within the crop.

Environmental factors such as temperature, wind and rain can affect how fast aphids reproduce and these factors dictate when control measures are best used.

Michael also discussed insecticide resistance and even though there is pyrethroid resistance across the country, pyrethroids will work well in most cases. He stresses the need for constant field walking to observe both aphid numbers and also species type.

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

Weed control in winter cereals is the topic covered on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast with Martin Bourke and Jimmy Staples joining Michael Hennessy to discuss in more detail.

Martin, a Teagasc advisor from Wicklow, discussed the advantages of selecting a pre-emergence or post emergence herbicide options. Martin outlined knowing the field history is extremely important to selecting the best pre-emergence herbicide but also pointed out that a follow up post emergence clean herbicide up treatment is needed.

He explained this gives the farmer a chance to use herbicides with alternative modes of action which will help to reduce the chances of herbicide resistance developing in the field.

Jimmy Staples, from the Teagasc ECT project, discussed controlling grass weeds in winter cereals. Jimmy agreed that pre-emergence herbicides work well in most situations, however, he pointed out there are more options for wheat than barley.

Jimmy also warns farmers about blackgrass control on farm.

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

James McDonnell a Financial Specialist in Teagasc joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss how best to manage your farm finances.

James starts with the basics describing the differences between main concepts like turnover, profit and cash flow.

”Cash flow is essentially a measure of the cash in your account,” he explains. “In certain circumstances you could have a high turnover, have a taxable profit, but little money in your bank account. So for farmers the best measure to track is cash flow”.

James details where farmers should start to get a handle on their cash flow and outlines some of the useful tools like the Tillage 5 minute Cash flow, the Teagasc Cost control planner and e-Profit Monitor which are easy to set up and use.

Digging into the profitability on a field by field basis as well as comparing crops or enterprises on the farm will help to develop a better cash flow projection for the coming months. All of these tools are available on www.teagasc.ie

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

James Nolan, a grain trader from R&H Hall, joined Michael Hennessy on the Tillage Edge podcast this week to discuss the cereal harvest around the world and what that means for Irish tillage producers.

James talked about the volumes of maize, wheat, and barley production around the world and noted Russia's large harvest at an estimated 83 million tonnes. This is currently the cheapest supply of wheat in the world.

Closer to home, the difficult planting conditions last year impacted both Ireland and Europe with the result there is less wheat in the system. This is currently driving the price (along with other factors) however James thinks this will reduce overtime.

James commented that there isn't a shortage of milling wheat at the moment although exports of milling wheat from Europe are down by 50%. Up to the middle of this year maize dictated the price of cereals in Ireland however given the current maize harvest (and yield predictions) barley is now the main driver.

James said there were opportunities for farmers to sell forward during this year (wheat in the range €195/t) and added there will be opportunities in the next couple of months but growers should keep an eye on the price differential between barley and wheat.

National Crops Forum Don't forget the second part of the largest National Crops Forum is taking place this Thursday September 17th @6.30pm, as a webinar over zoom.

The forum will look at the Green Deal and Farm to Fork and also look forward to how the industry may be developed over the next number of years.

To register for the forum please click here: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/nationalcropsforum2.php

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

Dr Veronica Nyham from Teagasc, Portlaoise joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss important aspects of soil fertility and soil sampling.

Veronica explains that over 50% of tillage soils have low soil fertility (index 1 and 2). Where farmers are using maintenance fertiliser levels on these fields then crop yield will be penalised.

Lime is the most import part of soil fertility and will aid or hinder the uptake of all nutrients. Due to crop yield, rainfall and chemical fertiliser input soils need about 1.5-2.5 tonnes of lime every 5 years.

Veronica emphasises the importance of mapping fields before soil sampling to take account of soil variability. Teagasc are available to take the soil sample through our soil sampler service and then create a Nutrient Management Plan when the results are available.

Finally, the Crops Forum takes place on Thursday September 10th and 17th between 6.30-7.30pm on both evenings. Topics like varieties, BYDV, Green Deal and recommendations for the development of the tillage sector and more will be discussed.

For more information see https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/nationalcropsforum.php

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy finds out about the harvest so far from the midlands and the south of the country.

John Kelly, from Teagasc Offaly said there are a lot of difficulties this year with low yields of both grain and straw but there are emerging problems of lodged crops and grain loss.

The position is worse in the south with winter wheat shedding heads and grain resulting substantial grain loss.

Michael McCarthy Teagasc Cork explained that, similar to the midlands, spring barley is struggling to pass as malting barley with only about 50% is expected to pass now.

Another concern emerging, following all the rain, is the deteriorating ground conditions. It is a difficult harvest all round!

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Desiccating potato crops are the topic on this week’s Tillage Edge with Ciaran Collins joined by Shay Phelan, Teagasc Potato Specialist to discuss in more detail.

Firstly Shay gives an update on how crops are progressing as we approach harvest and he then highlights that there are significant challenges facing growers this year with high disease pressure, deteriorating ground conditions and limited options making desiccating crops more difficult.

For many growers this will be the first year that they will try to desiccate a crop without the use of diquat so Shay discusses the alternative approaches and outlines strategies that growers should consider this season and into the future.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Ciaran Collins joins Shay Phelan on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss winter oilseed rape as an option for tillage farmers.

Ciaran discusses the performance of the crop this harvest, the benefits of having break crops in the rotation and the early crop management including variety choice, drilling and weed control.

Finally, Ciaran looks at the profitability of winter oilseed rape compared to cereal crops.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

This week’s Tillage Edge podcast with Eoin Lyons discusses harvest 2020 with Teagasc tillage advisors Ciaran Hickey and Conor O Callaghan to see how progress is going to date and how crops are yielding in the south and north-east of the country.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

The function and benefits of cover crops on your farm is the topic on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast and Michael Hennessy was joined by Richie Hackett, Teagasc Oak Park, to find out more.

Richie explained that these crops can catch nutrients such as nitrate (and slow the overland flow of soil thus reducing phosphorus runoff), can protect or enhance the soil, can contribute nutrients to the next year’s crop and can also provide forage for animals.

The amount of organic matter added by a cover crop will depend on how much growth the cover crop made but in general, the amount of organic matter added by cover crops will be relatively modest.

However, after ten years of cover crops at Oak Park, there was little difference between that and where the ground was kept bare over the winter.

Richie told the Tillage Edge that cover crop seed costs can also vary a lot depending on what is being sown. There will also be mixes with many more than two species but there is very little evidence to support the use of mixes with many species.

Richie’s advice is to choose a species or simple species mix that will achieve your objectives without causing rotational problems with the lowest cost. Given that the economic benefits of cover crops are usually fairly modest at best, therefore the main objective should be to keep costs as low as possible.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

This week, the Tillage Edge podcast gets a crops harvest update from the counties of Cork and Carlow with Phelim McDonald of Teagasc, Carlow and Elaine Clifford, Teagasc, Cork joining presenter Michael Hennessy with the latest information.

Firstly, Phelim gives an update on how the harvest is progressing so far in Carlow, explaining that there is between a third and a half of the area completed so far and yields are variable.

Yields of between 2.2-4.0 tons per acre are being reported, with a big variation between fields. Fields with heavier soils, in good rotations and those which received organic manures are yielding the most. Straw yields are approximately half the normal volume. There are a few winter oilseed crops harvested but no firm reports of yield as yet. The winter oat harvest will also begin shortly.

Elaine Clifford repors from Cork that there is about 20% of the winter barley area in Cork is harvested so far. Yields are good with reports of between 3.7-4.3 tons per acre. Grain quality is good but straw yields are back considerably compared to normal.

No other crops are harvested so far, with winter oilseed rape at least two weeks away and winter oats longer still as most crops are still quite green.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Shay Phelan, Crops & Potato Specialist, Teagasc, Oak Park joined Mark Plunkett on the Tillage Edge podcast this week.

Shay discussed potato blight control, blight programmes, products available and their effective use.

There was also an update on potato crops in 2020 and expected market supply, plus development of resistant strains of blight was also discussed on the programme.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Pat Farrell, IFA Grain & Horticulture Executive joined Mark Plunkett on this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge with Pat giving an update on the expected tonnage for the grain harvest both locally and internationally as well as prices for 2020.

Pat also discussed many factors impacting grain prices here in Ireland from maize corn, forward selling to Covid 19. It was highlighted that oilseeds and proteins crops provide an option of spreading the risk at harvest time plus offer many benefits in terms of rotation and higher cereals yields.

Finally, Pat gave a very comprehensive update on the straw market and potential supplies for a range of crops in 2020.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Dermot Forristal was the guest on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to speak to Michael Hennessy about combine set up and also the importance of stopping grass weed seeds spreading during harvest.

Crop through put, crop losses and quality are important factors in setting up the combine according to Dermot.

“Adjustment varies according to combine make but in order to get the set up correct machine operators should make one adjustment at a time and check the results afterwards,” he said.

Harvesting machinery from the combine to the baler, straw rakes and even tractors and trailers will spread grass weed seeds. Dermot is hugely concerned that farmers and contractors do everything possible to stop the spread of grass weeds especially blackgrass.

“All equipment should be thoroughly cleaned after leaving contaminated fields,” commented Dermot “And there cannot be any exceptions, especially with blackgrass.”

Dermot pointed out that farmers must take responsibility for grass weed problems on their farm and inform contractors well in advance of harvest and be prepared to leave the infected fields to the end of harvest to stop any further contamination.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Gordon Rennick, PRCD, for the Department of Agriculture and Marine joined Michael Hennessy on the Tillage Edge podcast this week.

Gordon explained that PRCD stands for the Pesticide Registration and Control Division of the Department of Agriculture and the unit has a wide range of roles from registering pesticides, residue testing, inspecting retail and farmers along with a host of other diverse work.

Gordon is involved with the registration of plant protection products (PPP) in Ireland and he mentioned the decrease of new actives coming up for registration from 30-40 per year, 20 years ago, to only 1-2 per year in more recent times.

He mentioned the importance of Integrated Pest Management in protecting PPP products but said there is a limit to the contribution of cultural control methods and good IPM includes PPP’s as part of control strategies.

The Farm to Fork policy document mention reductions of pesticides of 50% which Gordon says will be very challenging, and if implemented fully, yield reductions and quality are inevitable for Irish farmers.

Ultimately this is a political issue but the very existence of a tillage sector in Ireland is at stake with these new proposals.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Francis Blight, Teagasc Health and Safety Specialist joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss machinery safety for young drivers and also other safety areas around the farmyard.

Francis told the Tillage Edge there was no change in legislation regarding young drivers operating larger and faster tractors. Therefore, there is increased onus on the owner of the machinery to spend time training these young inexperienced drivers before letting them loose on roads.

Francis recommends spending at least a couple of hours with the driver training them to safely operate the machine off the road and further time training them while driving on roads. Francis highlighted the need for reduced speeds around yards as many injuries and deaths are caused by people getting knocked down in this environment.

Francis also touched on other areas where farmers can improve their practice such as workshops. Keeping these areas tidy reduces trip hazards, plus first aid kits and other safety equipment should be accessible and well maintained at all times.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On the Teagasc Tillage Edge podcast this week, Michael Hennessy was joined by Liz Glynn of Corteva, who chatted about broad leaf weed control and herbicide resistance issues in Ireland.

Liz told the Tillage Edge there are problems with broad leaved weeds escaping uncontrolled or partially controlled through to harvest. Liz said farmers need to check a number of areas such as weed type, weed size, growing conditions and herbicide type/rate to ensure that all conditions are correct to control the weed. Where there are correct and poor weed control is observed then herbicide resistance can be considered.

Liz mentioned resistance weeds such as chickweed were increasingly showing up on farm in the past couple of years. Corteva trials were showing increased resistance in chickweed to SU herbicides but herbicides like fluroxypyr (Starane) control these resistance weeds.

Liz maintains where there is good practice including rotations, alternating crops, ensuring competitive canopies and good selection of correct herbicides, then growers will be able to reduce the likelihood of resistance on their farms.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia

Joining Michael Hennessy was Eoin Lyons, Teagasc Boortmalt Joint Program advisor who told Michael that there is quite a difference in crops across the south east region where he works.

South Wexford has quite good crops whereas the further north (probably from Bunclody) crops are poorer with some very disappointing crops evident now. The past couple of weeks dry and very warm weather were particularly hard on these spring crops.

Eoin pointed out there is very little disease but growers should assess crop potential. Where potential is good a normal fungicide program is advised but where yields are likely to be low then reducing fungicides costs is the prudent thing to do.

Eoin also pointed out that growers should examine fields in the coming weeks for grass weeds like wild oats and canary grass and hand rogue where possible. If this is not possible then crop burn off may be the most prudent control. In all cases drawing any infected patches on a map for reference is essential.

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

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

With the current heat, many crops are growing rapidly, where moisture is not limiting. Irrigation will maintain and drive on this growth rate. This new growth is more susceptible to blight and difficult to keep protected due to the amount of new leaf material produced each week. Irrigation (or rain) will create humidity and leaf wetness making ideal conditions for blight spread.

There has already been one blight warning in the north west and if we get prolonged rain, conditions would be very conducive to blight spread. The first blight application is a trade-off between having enough foliage to receive the fungicide and the likelihood of spread. Prevention of blight in the canopy is key and sets the foundation for season long control.

Denis also stressed to need to regularly inspect seed crops for blight and viruses. Potato virus can build up quickly in seed potatoes with potato virus PVY the most important virus. Denis discusses controlling this virus but also mentions that PVY is difficult to control.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Tillage grass weeds including wild oats and blackgrass were the topic for discussion on this week’s Tillage Edge and Michael Hennessy was joined by Jimmy Staples, manager of the Enable Conservation Agriculture project in Teagasc.

Jimmy told Michael that the major weeds like wild oats, bromes and blackgrass are in every county across the country and the incidence is increasing year on year.

He recommends all farmers should walk fields before spraying any grass weed herbicide and should ensure to thoroughly hand rogue the field for missed plants before harvest to prevent seed return.

Blackgrass is a weed which is becoming more prevalent in Ireland and Jimmy recommends all growers should have heightened awareness of the weed and ensure it does not establish on the farm. Where a grower has blackgrass the best farm management practice is to embrace the problem.

Where the infestation is moderate to high, crop (and weed) destruction in the coming week or so is the best option to prevent seed return and is one of the best steps for long term control. A grower in this situation should have a 5 year plan for that field and for the farm, in general, to ensure the weed is eliminated.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On this bonus episode of the Tillage Edge, we're bringing you our virtual crop walk from Oak Park focusing on winter wheat.

Because of Covid-19, Teagasc's normal crop walk couldn't take place, but instead we were able to bring you an interactive version with crops specialist, Stephen Kildea, as well as John Hogan, Oak Park's Farm Manager to give us an idea of what the winter wheat is looking like.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On this bonus episode of the Tillage Edge, we're bringing you our virtual crop walk from Oak Park focusing on spring barley.

Because of Covid-19, Teagasc's normal crop walk couldn't take place, but instead we were able to bring you an interactive version with crops specialist, Ciaran Collins, as well as John Hogan, Oak Park's Farm Manager to give us an idea of what the spring barley is looking like.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

John Spink, Head of the Crops Environment and Land Use Programme in Teagasc joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to chat about the difficulties of getting trials into the ground this year and the prospects for crops for the year ahead.

He said the dry soils in Oak Park allowed trafficability where other soils would not. Due to this almost all crops were planted into generally good conditions in the autumn and the spring. Trials are generally on track so far this year but the centre will have to manage without the usual help of visiting students during the summer.

John discussed the prospects for crops this year and commented on the effects of the current dry conditions in the east of the country. John said crops are starting to suffer from moisture stress but disease levels are low enabling a wider choice of plant protection products.

He maintains crops should be managed for maximum yield but there is no room for unproven additional products in the tank. John also maintains growers should question their agronomist about every input to ensure it will contribute to increased margins.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On this bonus episode of the Tillage Edge, we're bringing you our virtual crop walk from Oak Park focusing on winter barley.

Because of Covid-19, Teagasc's normal crop walk couldn't take place, but instead we were able to bring you an interactive version with crops specialist, Shay Phelan as well as John Hogan, Oak Park's Farm Manager to give us an idea of what the winter barley is looking like.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On the Teagasc Tillage Edge podcast this week, Michael Hennessy was joined by Deirdre Doyle, Technologist in Oak Park, Carlow who chatted about disease control in spring barley.

Deirdre explained that crops were very clean at the moment, partly aided by the recent dry weather, and by reasonably good varietal resistance to fungal diseases.

She pointed out that, despite the lack of disease at the moment, growers need to walk their crops before the application of the first fungicide.

Deirdre was involved in research which re-looked at fungicide timings in spring barley. She described the key timings are at mid to late tillering for the first timing and awns emerged for the final fungicide. She also noted that a mix of key actives (triazole plus strob/SDHI) at a 50% rate will be sufficient in most cases.

As Chlorothalonil (Bravo) cannot be used after May 20th Deirdre explained there is no role for this fungicide in disease control this year either at the first or second fungicide timing in spring barley. Growers can use Folpet at the final timing and the new chemistry Revysol will also be a useful addition.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

This week’s Teagasc Tillage Edge podcast is discussing weed control strategies in spring barley with Eoin Lyons, a Teagasc advisor working in the Teagasc/Boortmalt Joint programme

Eoin told presenter, Michael Hennessy, that although seedbeds and establishment were generally excellent crops are suffering from drought stress, especially in the eastern half of the country.

He pointed out there weren’t a huge amount of weeds emerged in fields as yet. He recommended waiting for the promised rain during this week to allow crops to recover from drought stress for a number of days and also to allow more weeds to emerge.

Eoin emphasised utilising an IPM approach to arrive at the most targeted herbicide to use in fields. He was very keen to point out the best results are achieved by applying the herbicide to a small weed (1-2 pairs of true leaves) and where possible ensure three or four days of good growth both before and after the application of the herbicide.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

Tillage Specialist Ciaran Collins joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge to discuss aphids and Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus or BYDV.

Ciaran outlined that all the spring cereals (wheat, barley and oats) are potentially at risk from BYDV infection and indicated that trial results has shown yield decreased of 2 tons per hectare due to BYDV.

The best timing for control is at the 4 leaf stage, with crops emerging in early to mid-April at a moderate risk (depending on your location).

Ciaran described the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) measures such as assessing risk based on location and time of planting but he also stressed the importance of infield monitoring.

Ciaran also touched on insecticide resistance in aphid populations. KDR resistance is widespread but may vary from field to field. He recommends crop inspection four to five days after application to monitor control and if live juvenile aphids are found there may be resistance in the field.

However, he pointed out if the first application was completed correctly then a reapplication of an aphicide should not be completed as no further control will be achieved.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

This week’s guest on the Tillage Edge is Dr Steven Kildea, Researcher in Teagasc, to discuss disease control strategies in winter wheat.

Stephen first discussed the effect of later planted crops and low disease levels following the recent very dry weather. Steven pointed out there is still plenty of disease within crops and it’s the weather from now that will dictate how that disease develops.

He recommends growers walk crops regularly, assessing plant growth stages and disease levels so that the main fungicides are applied at the correct timing. It is especially important to get the first main fungicide applied at the third leaf fully emerged stage.

Steven explained how yellow rust can be a huge threat early in the season and growers need to move quickly if the disease enters a susceptible variety.

Septoria control will change somewhat this year with the introduction of a new triazole called Revystar and the withdrawal of Chlorothalonil on May 20th. Steven recommends, if Revystar is going to be used, then target its use at the flag leaf timing (in mid May) and use Chlorothalonil where it is available (but before May 20th)

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On the first episode of Teagasc's Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy was joined by Dr. Richie Hackett to discuss nitrogen strategies in winter cereals and also malting barley. Richie has a wealth of research expertise and is the main researcher in this area in Ireland.

Winter crops took a battering last autumn from later than normal planting combined with constant wet soil conditions all the way to March this year. Yield potential may have suffered however Richie is upbeat about most crops. With good agronomic management and a kind season there is still good potential in most crops.

Richie explained where plant stands were good and where the tillers/shoots were retained good yield potential can be fulfilled. For that reason Richie doesn’t recommend deviating too far from the normal amount of nitrogen applied to crops.

He recommends where a crop’s potential isn’t great to reduce nitrogen input by 20 kg N/ha for each one ton/hectare lower yield than normal. However he also recommended not to reduce overall rates by more than 40kg N/ha.

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

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

The Tillage Edge, Teagasc's new tillage podcast, presented by Michael Hennessy, is coming soon.

During the Coivd-19 crisis we'll be bringing you weekly episodes covering agronomy needs of crops throughout the season with input from Teagasc researchers and views from across the industry.

Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.