The 2024 Crops Forum hosted by Teagasc highlighted the fact that winter oilseed rape (OSR) is fast becoming a ‘good news’ story.
It is now the most reliable and consistent crop option available in Ireland. This is due to the continuous genetic improvement that has been achieved over the past decade.
The trend has been confirmed on the back of trials carried out by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) over the past number of years.
Another highly reliable crop that grows consistently well under Irish conditions, is winter oats.
On the flip side, recent DAFM trials have confirmed the inconsistency of both winter barley and winter wheat crops under the growing conditions that have prevailed in Ireland over the last two years.
But, it’s not all bad news. The latest DAFM trials confirm that claims of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) tolerance for certain varieties of winter barley seem to be holding up in a number of cases.
Meanwhile, winter wheat varieties remain very susceptible to septoria attack, and it could be a number of years before genetically improved whet varieties are available.
Cara MacAodháin from DAFM’s Crop Policy, Evaluation and Certification Division, presented to the forum.
He explained that the challenging weather conditions in recent years has provided invaluable information in identifying varieties that will perform consistently for farmers, adding:
“This highlights the importance of selecting varieties from the recommended list, which have been comprehensively evaluated and proven over a number of years.”
Crops Forum
Teagasc tillage specialist, Ciaran Collins, presented strategies to help farmers get rotations back on track following the wet year in 2023/2024.
“Spreading the risk across multiple crops will give farmers the best chance of an improved income.
“Using multiple crops allows a wider planting window, thereby helping to plant and subsequently manage each crop at the optimum time,” he said.
Collins highlighted the potential for rye within crop rotations. It is not susceptible to take-all, is potentially high yielding and provides growers with an opportunity to extend the autumn planting to window.
The down side to the crop, is the need to have a customer identified for the grain prior to planting.
Rye is very susceptible to slug damage during its early growth stages
Dr. Richie Hackett, a researcher in the Teagasc Crops Research Centre at Oak Park, also addressed the Crops Forum.
He presented results from recently completed winter barley trials.
“The yield results show that early sowing in September increases the risk of lower yields where take-all, or BYDV, occur but management can help reduce these risks,” Hackett confirmed.