Teagasc is advising that glyphosate cannot be used to desiccate cereal crops prior to harvest; the new regulation kicks in this year.
However, there is one exemption i.e., using the herbicide in crops with very heavy weed infestations.
Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan told Agriland: “Given the state of most crops at the present time, there should be very little need for cereal growers to use glyphosate in any event.”
Meanwhile, the very earliest crops of winter barley could be harvested this week.
“It’s all very weather dependent. Many crops of barley are looking very well. But growers won’t know how what yields will be like until the combines are, actually, rolling,” Phelan added.
Crops update
Agronomists are of the universal view that 2024 will not be a year for record yields.
“If we can get 3.5t/ac in barley across the country, it will be adjudged to have been a satisfactory year,” Phelan continued.
Winter barley yields of 3.3t/ac are regarded as the breakeven point for barley crops grown on home ground. Below this figure, growers will start to get into negative margin territory.
Meanwhile, spring barley continues to look well across most of the country.
Shay Phelan has confirmed that full ear emergence has been reached in almost all crops.
“The final fungicide spray should have been applied by this stage,” the Teagasc representative commented.
“It’s now a case of waiting to see what results the final harvest will deliver.”
Recent rains and the return of milder weather conditions have boosted the growth of all potato crops.
“Growers remain, very much, on blight alert,” Phelan outlined.
“They have also responded to the threat of the evolving strains of potato blight, which are showing resistance to an increasing number of fungicide chemicals.
“Blight threat levels remain high and significant numbers of potato growers are already submitting samples of disease-affected leaves, in order to identify the specific blight strains impacting on crops this year.”
But it is also recognised by agronomists that the real threat of blight infection to the commercial potato sector in 2024 will come from hobby growers, who plant out a few drills in back gardens and/or allotments.
Invariably, these specific crops will not be sprayed for blight at all. As a result, they will constitute disease reservoirs, which could severely impact on commercial potato growing businesses.
What’s more, this threat will continue to increase as the season progresses.