The start of the 2022 cereal harvest is only a few weeks away and by all accounts, the crops have grown well this year – at least up to this point.
The potential for high yields is there so let’s hope now that the weather plays fair and farmers can get in on with the work in a hassle-free manner.
I have been around for long enough to confirm that too many harvests in the past were nothing more than ‘snatch-and-grab’ affairs.
The need to grow more grain here in Ireland is obvious. We have tremendous farmers and, when the weather plays its part, we can grow tremendous crops of wheat, barley and oats.
Some weeks ago, there were indications that the area put into cereal across Northern Ireland in 2022 is well up, possibly by as much as 10% year-on-year.
Let’s hope this is right. In the Republic of Ireland, the equivalent figure has been confirmed at 6%.
I’m pretty certain that increasing the area of cereals grown here would help to decrease the carbon footprint of agriculture in Ireland, as a whole.
The main driver here would be a reduction in the more-than-significant tonnages of grain imported from other countries.
But this is only part of the good-news story.
Biodiversity
We also know that our tillage areas play a critically important role in maintaining biodiversity levels within the countryside.
Many of our native birds depend on the habitats created by cereal growers to live and breed.
These facts have been recently confirmed by conservation organisations like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). For the record, these were the same groups that once pilloried cereal growers for their use of pesticides.
Mixed farming has always been at the heart of agriculture in Ireland and this approach to food production and rural conservation must be retained.
Local cereal growers can look forward to good prices for their produce over the coming months. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer.
The cereals sector must secure the long-term support it needs. And, it’s up to agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue, to ensure this is the case.
The specific need to expand the output of protein crops is also apparent. We know that beans can be grown successfully in Ireland.
The ongoing protein aid scheme is confirming that farmers want to grow these crops. But the support structures must be kept in place to allow this happen.
So, yes, harvest 2022 is almost upon us. Activity levels will be at fever pitch on all those farms involved.
Combines, tractors and trailers will be flat out getting crops back from the fields. But all of this frenzied action brings with it a very enhanced health and safety risk.
And, of course, children will be off school for the next two months.
No doubt, plans of action are now being formulated to get the harvest completed in the most efficient way possible.
So let’s hope that maintaining the health and safety of everyone involved is made the number one priority in this regard!