Harvest 2025 on the Ards Peninsula delivers high yields
Arable farmers on the Ards Peninsula of Co Down have recorded high yields of both winter wheat and winter barley as they push to complete harvest 2025.
There are also strong indications that grain quality is also excellent this year.
Yields of 4t/ac for winter barley and almost 5t/ac for winter wheat are not untypical on many farms.
Farmers have welcomed these results which they have attributed to the excellent planting conditions of last autumn and the fact that crops got moisture when required.
Straw yields from winter cereals have also been positive this year which has been met with strong demand from beef and dairy farmers throughout the Co. Down area.
However spring barley crops have not fared as well, however.
Yields have averaged just short of 3t/ac.
Many of these crops were planted in late March and early April and were fully exposed to the drought-like conditions that followed during the months of May and June.
Meanwhile growers in the Co. Down area believe that yields of winter cereals might have been even higher had it not been for the impact of Take-All on some crops.
This was especially the case where winter wheat or winter barley had been grown in the same fields on successive years.
Overall disease levels impacting across all crops have been confirmed as low throughout the 2024/25 growing season.
This was a direct reflection of the dry conditions that have been a feature of the weather since the beginning of April.
Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) tends not to be that big of a challenge within cereal crops grown in Northern Ireland. In addition, growers tend to opt for an autumn planting dates that kicks-off late in September and/or early October.
Meanwhile, feed compounders in Northern Ireland are actively buying wheat from local growers at the present time.
The bulk of the barley now becoming available is sold farm-to farm or used on the farms where it was produced.
There is very little malting barley grown in Northern Ireland,. However, there is an expectation that the acreages dedicated to the crop north of the border could increase over the coming years.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Protein Aid Scheme has encouraged the growth in spring bean production recorded over recent years.
Crops that were sown out early, which were well established before the onset of the very dry spell that impacted later in the spring, are looking well.
The spring bean harvest is expected to get underway during September.
