Merchants are confirming that there is plenty of spring seed available in Ireland this year, but price will be the real issue that confronts growers.
Co. Wexford-based merchant John Cullen told Agriland: “Seed crops yielded very well last year, so availability is not the issue. But, as is the case with grain across the board, prices have strengthened considerably.”
Cullen supplies a range of spring barley, spring wheat, spring bean and spring oat seed varieties.
Price for spring seed
Cullen confirmed that the poor weather last back end severely restricted planting operations at that time.
“Growers will come in and boost their spring cropping area accordingly,” he commented.
“Spring barley is the obvious choice in this context. There will be no drop-off in the area planted out in crops during 2022/2023, certainly in the south east.”
Cullen explained that demand for spring beans is increasing, a direct response to the availability of the Protein Aid Scheme.
“There are a traditional number of spring bean producers in the south east. And they will keep on doing what they do,” he said.
“Last year, we noticed an uplift in the demand for spring bean varieties. We expect this trend to be maintained in 2023.”
Malting barley is an important crop throughout the Wexford area. Cullen confirmed that growers did particularly well in 2022, both from a yield and price perspective.
“Year-on-year, the acreage of malting barley will probably be the same. There are strong indications that the malting operations have now agreed their production targets for 2023,” explained.
Cover crops
One notable area of uplift in seed sales concerns the establishment of cover crops.
“There was a big commitment on the ground last year to get cover crops established,” Cullen explained.
“Growers take the view that committing to the crops covers them from a greening and TAMS [Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme] point of view.”
Meanwhile, Teagasc is confirming that many tillage farmers may well plant out winter wheat as a spring cropping option over the coming weeks.
The seed was bought last autumn but not used because of the deterioration in ground conditions prior to Christmas.
Planting winter wheat at this time of the year is an approach that will work best on the most productive land. And the agronomy associated with the crop will have to be tweaked accordingly.
Given the later sowing, the harvest date of these crops may well extend through to September.