Home-grown spring barley seed could be in short supply next year, according to Goldcrop agronomist, John Dunne.
“This very much depends on how much winter crops that growers get planted throughout the remainder of November, December and January, ” Dunne said.
“There is still potential to get significant acreages of winter barley sown out, in specific areas and, more generally, winter wheat crops drilled over the coming weeks.”
Dunne points out that the autumn planting season of 2023 was always going to be difficult,
“Ground never got a chance to really dry out last summer. A difficult harvest followed. And this was always going to set the scene for a difficult planting period during the subsequent autumn months, irrespective of the weather that came our way,” he told Agriland.
“Growers are still keen to get winter crops into the ground. If they can achieve this, then it takes the pressure off the amount of spring planting that will be required next year.
“But if weather conditions remain challenging, the end result will be a major push to get spring barley into the ground next year.
“Under those circumstances, home-grown seed availability will come under pressure. The option then becomes one of importing stocks from other countries,” he added.
Weather for planting spring barley
The Goldcrop representative is mindful of the fact that rain fall levels have already surpassed their annual averages across many parts of the country.
“And there is still two months left in this calendar year,” he commented. “So, on the law of averages, this would give some hope that a dry spell might kick-in over the coming weeks.
“But Ireland is not alone in dealing with the ravages of the weather. Tillage farmers in the UK, France and northern Europe are having great difficulty getting winter crops into the ground at the present time.
“And these challenges are all weather-related,” he explained.
According to Dunne, tillage farmers north of Kilkenny have managed to get 75%, or thereabouts, of their planned winter plantings completed.
“But in places like south Cork, east Cork and south Wexford, the polar opposite is the case. Here, completed plantings are struggling to reach 20%,” he said.
“But in some parts of the south, farmers have not been able to plant crops into the ground at all over recent weeks.
“Seed sales are down, year-on-year. But sales are not an accurate indicator of actual planting levels as a proportion of seed is still in-store with merchants and farmers,” he stated.