Grass weeds are becoming an increasing problem on tillage farms. In order to combat this, Teagasc is encouraging farmers to take note of weeds this harvest by mapping problem areas on their farms.
In order to control grass weeds, farmers need to know the extent of the problem on their farms.
Speaking to AgriLand, Michael Hennessey from Teagasc stated: “Every farm has some degree of grass weeds; there might be patches here and there.”
However, he went on to say that it can be difficult to remember where these patches of grass weeds are.
After everything is cut, it’s easy to forget where these patches are.
“Farmers could take their single farm payment maps on the combine and they should be able to map out where those grass weeds are on the map.”
Tackling grass weeds on a nationwide scale
At present, Teagasc is running a project on conservation agriculture. It is funded by the EIP (European Innovation Partnership) project in the Department of Agriculture.
Michael explained that many farmers are hesitant about using conservation tillage techniques because of grass weed problems.
“It’s a project to try and encourage conservation agriculture, which is essentially anything other than ploughing.
The reason that many people haven’t taken up min-till – or maybe even gave it up – in the past is because of grass weed control.
“This project is centred around identifiying grasses, upskilling people in identifying grass weeds and what to do with those grasses along the way. At the end of the day, we don’t have a big arsenal of herbicides and there’s very few – if any – in the pipeline.
“We have to protect the chemistry we have. The old adage ‘the answer is in the can’ is not good enough anymore – especially not with grass weeds.”
- Wild oats;
- Blackgrass;
- Sterile Brome;
- Canary grass.
Working with 10 farms
Teagasc plans to work with 10 farmers in this project. These farms would provide a point of contact to bring farmers, agronomists and merchants together over the course of the project.
If farmers are interested in taking part in the project, they can contact Michael Hennessey at: [email protected]
Advisor
At present, Teagasc is recruiting an advisor for this project; it will run over five years. A research officer and technician will also be employed in the coming months and there is currently a PhD student working on the project.
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