The Tillage Edge

Over recent weeks, most farmers have had the opportunity to plant winter crops, with many crops well emerged. 

Ciaran Collins, a tillage specialist, and Vijaya Bhaskar, a weed researcher from Teagasc, join the Tillage Edge podcast this week to discuss the best options for effective pre and post emergence weed control in winter cereals. 

Ciaran emphasises that controlling grass weeds through pre-emergence or early post-emergence is essential for effective management.

Vijaya provides an update on ALS herbicide-resistant annual meadow grass detected across the country, noting that pre-emergence herbicides are effective on these resistant populations.

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 

With many crops just starting to emerge, it's time to think about protecting them from BYDV, or Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus.

Dr. Louise McNamara, an entomologist from Teagasc, joins this week’s Tillage Edge to discuss the best strategies for controlling BYDV in winter cereals.

Louise emphasises that monitoring for aphids is key to any Integrated Pest Management approach. 

However, due to the challenges of correctly identifying aphids and determining whether they carry the virus, the recommended timings for aphid control this year remain similar to previous years.

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 

With harvest complete, farmers now have a clear understanding of the grain they have available for sale. 

While many have already sold their grain in forward market positions, others are considering deferring sales for several weeks or months.

James Nolan, a grain trader at Barnett-Hall, is on this week’s Tillage Edge to discuss the current market outlook and what farmers should expect as we move forwards.

James highlights the challenges of drought in Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as adverse weather conditions in South America. However, the underlying factor of abundant maize supplies is likely to keep pressure on the 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 

The Department of Agriculture now has a full view of all nutrients imported onto tillage farms and this week on the Tillage Edge, Pat Murphy, Head of Environmental Knowledge Transfer in Teagasc, goes through what this means for farmers.  

Pat explains that all chemical fertilisers bought and organic manures imported onto a farm are reported to the Department of Agriculture and the combined figures can be used as part of an inspection on the farm.

Pat also encourages all farmers to declare any chemical fertilisers which are unused as closing stocks to the Department through the Agfood system as soon as possible.  

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 

Weed control in winter cereals is essential to protect yields and to prevent weed seed return and on this week’s Tillage Edge, Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialists at Teagasc, chat through the reasons to prioritise pre-emerge herbicide applications in winter wheat and winter barley.

Shay says there is some flexibility in the pre-emerge application timing, however there is very little flexibility in the rates and he recommends using high rates to achieve season-long persistency.  

The Teagasc Crop Report can be downloaded here from the Google and Apple app stores:

Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.teagasccropreport.app&pli=1    

Apple: 

https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/teagasc-crop-report/id1612644393

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

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com 

As planting season begins, the choice of crop varieties will shape the management practices for the year ahead. 

Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan, Tillage Specialists at Teagasc, are on this week’s Tillage Edge to discuss the key factors in selecting varieties and why certain ones may be more suitable.

Ciaran advises that for larger acreages, a mix of varieties is crucial. He suggests starting with a BYDV-tolerant variety and then planting a combination of two-row and six-row varieties.

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 on The Tillage Edge podcast, we’re circling back to the National Tillage Conference from earlier this year and focusing on the trade-offs of establishment systems with Jack Jameson, as well as the growing problem of weeds, particularly poppies, with Charlotte Morgan.

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

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

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

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

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

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

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

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

There is a good proportion of the harvest completed and this week on The Tillage Edge podcast, Teagasc Tillage Advisors, Ciara O’Donovan, Conor O’Callaghan and John Pettit report on the yields in their areas to date with all three reporting good yields from spring barley along with reasonable straw yields.

There was agreement that winter cereal and winter oilseed rape yields were generally disappointing, with winter wheat, which looked to have potential, giving a poor yield.  

All of the advisors put the low averages down to thinner crops with bare patches due to the poor weather all 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

Tim Bergin, a Dublin man farming in Poland, and Andy Mahon, a Dubliner who manages a farm in the UK, join the Tillage Edge this week to chat about their respective harvests with contrasting reports of a very difficult year in the UK and a year full of promise from Poland.

In Poland, Tim explains that yields were reasonably good and harvest was straightforward to complete with all grain saved at low moistures.  However, in the UK, Andy reports a very difficult year with yields back by about 15-20% across the board.

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