The Irish Grain Growers' Group (IGGG) is anticipating the publication of the draft schemes, linked to the new €30 million tillage support measures committed to in Budget 2026, over the coming days.  

However, the jury is still out as to whether the government is committing to an initiative for 2026 only or a multi-annual programme.

It is envisaged that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, will engage with all relevant stakeholder groups, after the publication of the draft schemes.

This process will take place in the run-up to Christmas and the early weeks of 2026.

In addition, December will see the next meeting of the Food Vision Tillage Group taking place which IGGG will also attend.

The organisation has also indicated that it is to hold a series of farmer meetings over the coming weeks.

Tillage planting season

Meanwhile, IGGG co-secretary, Bobby Miller, is confirming that the heavy rains of recent days has, to all intents and purposes bought the autumn planting season to an end.

“The weather and ground conditions would need to improve very quickly for those framers looking to finish out their winter planting schedules," he explained.

“The vast majority of the winter crops planted over recent weeks have established well.

“My only concern relates to the possible impact of heavy rains on newly established crops.

With the autumn planting season fast coming to an end, securing effective weed control within newly emerged cereal crops will be a priority for tillage farmers.

Controlling grass weeds will be a key focus for growers in this regard.

There has been an increase in the amount of pre-emergence herbicides applied to crops this year, but there still remains quite a number of crops that will need post-emergence applications.

While the simplest thing to do is to select a product or mix of products that will control the weeds in the field, having a longer-term plan that includes product rotations, mixing active ingredients and crop rotations all will have to play a part in reducing herbicide resistance in years to come.

So, it is important to choose products or mixtures that contain different active ingredients which can be changed from year to year to avoid development of resistance while also continuing integrated pest management practices.

Met Éireann is forecasting the onset of cooler – but slightly drier conditions – over the coming days.