The Tillage Edge

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/