Earlier this week a group of Irish tillage farmers visited the Yonne region of eastern France to gauge the state of the crops sector in that part of the world and ended up discussing the importance of Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS).

The visit had been hosted by Lemken Ireland.

While the actual visits were of tremendous interest, of equal significance were the discussions held amongst the travelling group as they made their way from one location to the next.

One of the most fundamental points raised concerned the actual future of ploughing and its continuing use as a core cultivation technique.

It is now obvious that Irish tillage farmers are grappling with the range of crop establishment options available to them: Ploughing, followed by a traditional cultivation approach; min-till; or zero-till.

The consensus view amongst the group of visiting farmers was that all cultivation techniques should remain available to them including, the use of the plough.

And, specifically, future TAMS should reflect this principle.

Need for TAMS

The future role of machinery manufacturers and distributors in lobbying for TAMS that more specifically meets this need was discussed.

A greater role for the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) was identified in this context.

The discussion on the future prospects for ploughing was sparked by a presentation given to the group on the latest research taking place in England to control blackgrass.

Work carried by Agrii, a leading agronomy company with a research centre in East Anglia, has confirmed that ploughing acts as an effective means of controlling the weed within a cereal rotation.

While Britain has a systemic blackgrass problem, other fast-changing agronomic challenges are now confronting Irish tillage farmers. One of these is how best to incorporate straw into soils after chopping.

The debate that was had on this subject amongst the members of the visiting group concentrated on two main issues.

The need to have the straw chopper set up properly behind the combine is critical. Straw must be spread as widely as possible in order to maximise the opportunity for contact to be made with the soil.

Secondly, straw must be given sufficient time to break down between crops. This process should start to take place very quickly after chopping, assuming there is good contact between the soil and the trash.

However, there is a perception that straw incorporation can lead to increased slug related-problems within a newly established crop.