Growers should “walk all winter crops” as soon possible, Teagasc tillage specialist Shay Phelan has warned.
Phelan expects that growers will be met with a very mixed bag of performance when they review their crops.
“Many crops established well and have grown on accordingly,” the tillage specialist said.
“However, in quite a number of cases, establishment was poor, leaving fields with numerous bare patches.
“In all of these instances, water logging has caused the problems.”
Phelan highlighted that poor establishment of winter crops is an issue for tillage farmers right across the country at the present time.
“Geography is not the issue here, but topography is; low-lying fields took a real hit from the continuous rain in the run-up to Christmas.
“Rivers and water courses overflowed with surface water gathering in the adjacent fields. Most of the heavy rain fell in the south.
“But farmers in the northeast, where spoils tend to be that bit heavier, have been equally affected,” he outlined.
Growers facing difficult choices
The Teagasc specialist said that growers are now facing into the prospect of managing winter crops that have taken a real hit over recent weeks.
He said there is really only two choices open to growers at this time: Do they push on with a normal agronomy programme or do they start again and go in with a new cropping option?
“Either option comes with a very serious price tag,” stressed Phelan.
“Putting very expensive fertiliser and other inputs on to crops that have no hope of delivering optimal yields will be very costly.
“But putting in a replacement crop will be equally expensive,” he said.
Phelan has advised farmers who decide to re-plant fields – previously sown-out out with a winter crop – to take full account of establishment costs already incurred as they work through their full financial budgets for 2022/23.
Teagasc is scheduled to publish its crop cost and returns budgets for 2023 over the coming weeks.
However, all indicators suggest that in recent weeks the projected 2022/23 profit margins for tillage farmers have nosedived.
This is primarily due to a combination of falling grain prices and continuing price pressure on all input costs.
Projections are typically based on crops that deliver what would be regarded as normal yields.
However, it is generally acknowledged that last autumn’s heavy rains have put a serious question mark on the levels of cereal output that will be secured in Ireland later this year.
This in turn is likely to add more pressure on 2023 tillage margins, according to industry sources.