At some stage in the near future, a review and assessment on the outcome of the 2023/2024 cereal year will have to take place.
For now, a new planting season beckons and tillage farmers will want to take full advantage of the excellent ground conditions that currently exist.
We all know about the terrible weather conditions that impacted across Ireland last autumn, winter and spring. This will be taken for granted.
The real elephant in the room, however, was the impact of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) on both winter and spring cereals grown during 2023/24.
This is an issue which both Teagasc and the Irish Seed Trade Association (ISTA) will have to confront as a matter of priority.
I attended a spring cereals farm walk on a north Co. Dublin farm back in May to be informed that rampant BYDV levels had been identified across all classifications of cereal crops at that stage.
Everyone knows about the associated and inherent risks associated with the use of insecticides. So what is the alterative: using BYDV tolerant or resistant cereal varieties?
No doubt, genetics will deliver the long-term solution to the challenge of BYDV. The challenge is getting growers through the coming years.
This week’s Crop Forum event, to be hosted by Teagasc, will provide tillage farmers with an opportunity to discuss the BYDV challenge.
Meanwhile, integrated pest management (IPM) is a theme that continues to gain traction within the tillage sector.
This is a sustainable approach to managing pests and diseases in agriculture. It combines a variety of methods, including biological, cultural, physical, and chemical, to minimize the impact on the environment, human health, and the economy.
The consumer pressure to reduce the levels of agrochemicals within the tillage sector continues to mount.
But, at the end of the day, the issue comes down to a question of balance. The world’s population continues to grow. So, maximising grain yields will become increasingly important as the world looks to the future.
If modern fertilisers, fungicides and herbicides were to be removed from the tool kits available to tillage farmers right now, the impact on Irish and global food output would be immense.
Perhaps, it’s in this same context that the use of insecticides to control BYDV should also be viewed.
But such an approach raises the key issue pertaining to the proper and sustainable use of such products on the part of farmers.