The challenges that confront Irish tillage at the present time are manifold in nature, and recent published figures confirm this trend aplenty.
A case in point has been the recent Teagasc downgrading of the margins that farmers planting spring barley crops over recent weeks can expect to achieve.
The issue was discussed at the recent crops walk hosted by Bertie and Martin Ennis on their north Dublin farm.
According to Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan, winter barley and wheat crops drilled over the past fortnight may just about cover costs or, at best, will deliver a positive margin solely on the basis of their straw yields.
A key factor in the analysis equation for spring barley, is the cost of seed. It is now evident that growers committing to these crops now are doing so on the basis of seed bought last autumn.
Meanwhile, a question mark remains over the actual performance potential of the spring barley seed stocks that have been imported into Ireland over recent months.
Invariably, these varieties would have been grown in conditions totally different to those that exist in Ireland.
Irrespective of final grain yield, the jury is out on just how much straw these imported varieties can produce under Irish conditions.
However, the bigger picture is equally concerning for the tillage sector.
Official data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed the rate at which cereal production declined in 2023, with the production of the three main cereals – wheat, barley and oats, all back.
As part of its recent Area, Yield and Production of Crops 2023 update, the CSO notes that wheat, barley and oats yield also dropped by 1.4t/ha (-12.8%), 1.3t/ha (-16.1%) and 1.5t/ha (-17.9%), respectively when the 2023 and 2022 production years are compared.
The CSO statistics also reports on the areas under crops. When compared with 2022, the area under cereals dropped by 16,300ha or 5.7% to 269,400ha, with the largest decrease observed for winter barley, which was down by 20,800ha (-28.2%).
The area under cereals decreased in 2023 despite an increase of 16,900ha for spring barley (+14.5%) and an increase of 4,200ha for spring oats (+32.1%).
Additionally, the area under potatoes fell by 300ha (-3.3%) to 8,200ha in comparison with 2022, while the area under beans and peas rose by 5,400ha to 16,200 ha (+50.0%) in 2023.
Oilseed rape area was also up from 15,800ha in 2022 to 21,600ha in 2023 (+36.9%), the CSO statistics reveal.