This is our final episode of 2025, and I want to wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas and New Year. 

I’d also like to thank you for joining me, Michael Hennessy, every week as we explored a wide range of topics throughout the year. It’s always great to meet people at events who listen to the podcast and to hear the suggestions for future episodes.

This year, Dermot Forristal, a long-time Teagasc researcher and a regular contributor to The Tillage Edge podcast retired. 

An episode we recorded with him earlier in the year on cultivation systems proved extremely popular, so today we're going to revisit that conversation.

Dermot takes us through over 100 years of crop establishment practices, explaining how changes in machinery have influenced - and enabled - new approaches to soil cultivation. 

He also shares insights into why the plough dominated for so long, and what factors are now driving farmers to consider alternative systems.

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

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