Teagasc has used its first crop report of 2023 to flag up a number of technical issues, which will be of direct interest to tillage farmers over the coming weeks.
Among the changes to the Nitrates Directive is the new rule relating to fertiliser phosphorous applications.
Put simply – all occupiers of holdings on all arable land must take soil tests and assume a P index 4 until soil tests are taken. In other words, no soil test report, no phosphorus allocation.
Where slurries and manures are concerned, low emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipment must be used on tillage land. Alternatively the material is to be incorporated within 24 hours.
Pig slurry must be applied using LESS equipment only.
Ploughing or cultivating for non-grassland crops must not take place within 3m of watercourses that are identified on the modern 1:5,000 scale Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) mapping or better
For late harvested crops, a minimum uncultivated buffer of 6m shall be put in place to protect any intersecting watercourses.
CAN vs protected urea
According to Teagasc, there is increasing interest among tillage farmers in switching from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to protected urea this season.
Based on current fertiliser prices, there are significant financial benefits to using protected urea.
Currently, protected urea costs 30% less than CAN. The environmental benefits of protected urea are well proven with lower nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions than CAN, plus a reduction in ammonia emissions when compared to straight urea, according to Teagasc
Moreover, the use of urea results in lower levels of nitrate leaching compared to CAN.
The big advantage of protected urea is that farmers can use it from late January to early September. It will work as effectively as urea in spring in damp conditions.
Due to the inclusion of the urease inhibitor, it releases N slower and more effectively than CAN in the summer.
Crop report – spring sowing
Autumn 2022 was a difficult season to plant winter cereals. Reasonable progress was made in the north-east where the majority of the intended wheat area was sown.
However sowing progress in the south was hampered by wet weather resulting in some farmers with winter wheat seed in stock.
Previous research in Teagasc (2003 and 2004) showed little difference in yield between winter wheat varieties sown up to mid-February when compared to spring wheat varieties.
A later variety trial (sown Feb) in Cork in 2013 showed a slightly higher yield in the winter wheat control varieties (Einstein/Cordiale 9.26t/ha) compared to the spring wheat control varieties (Granary/Sparrow/Trappe 8.86t/ha).
Vernalisation is the induction of a plant’s flowering process by exposure to prolonged cold temperatures.
Previous experiments have shown that vernalisation is not really an issue for winter wheat varieties sown before mid-February.
However, only faster developing cereals should be sown after mid-February. It is recommended not to sow winter wheat varieties in March.