The history books will show that late spring plantings set the scene for all of the challenges that followed on tillage farms throughout Ireland in 2023.
Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan, shared his thoughts on the matter: “The last fortnight of February, and the first couple of days in March, provided an opportunity for farmers to start drilling spring crops.
“After that, they had to wait until late-April before they could get back out into the fields. Growers then drilled crops throughout May, and in some cases well into June.
“So, late planting dates really did set the scene for the rest of the growing season. The delay in getting crops into the ground also put a limit on the final yields that could be expected,” Phelan explained.
Potatoes
Meanwhile, potato growers were equally impacted by the poor weather.
“The challenge facing potato growers was even more severe. In the first instance, they needed soils dried down to 18 inches, otherwise it would not be possible to form beds.
“Some growers panicked a little bit. They started drilling in late-April, really when conditions were not suitable. Problems then followed during the drought period. Drills started to crack and they became very difficult to work.
“Growers who held off into early-June got the benefit of the best planting conditions of the year. They then went on to produce a selection of the best potato crops of 2023,” the tillage specialist said.
The drought
According to Teagasc tillage specialist, Ciaran Collins, the month of May and the first three weeks of June were both warm and dry.
“Earlier sown spring crops came through the drought conditions of May and June in good order. They had well-established root systems and, as a result, were able to grow-on.
“However, the dry spell created major challenges for later sown crops, and this problem became more apparent in crops that were drilled in more northerly locations. All of this came back to planting date.
“The later that crops were drilled, the less capable they were of withstanding the drought pressures created during the May/June period.
“This was a big factor in spring barley yields. I have never seen such a wide range in the final performance achieved from spring barley crops grown in this country.
“In some locations, crops produced 3¼t/ac. However, in a number of cases the final yields produced were south of 2t. Once again, planting date was the key factor in determining final yields. All of the higher producing crops were sown out during the dry spell that came-in during the second half of February,” Collins explained.
However, there was an upside to the dry warm conditions of May and June 2023: “This is a time of year that is critical in the development of winter wheat and winter barley. So, as a result of the dry warm conditions, disease pressure within these crops was significantly reduced,” he added.
The earliest harvest on record
Another impact of the very hot and dry conditions that characterised May and June, was the effect on harvest date.
Teagasc is confirming that 2023 marked the earliest start to Ireland’s winter barley harvest on record. Combines started rolling in late-June.
As Shay Phelan also explained, it was growers on the lighter soils in the midlands who were out of the traps first, when it came to kickstarting harvest.
“Normally, the harvest gets underway first in places like east Cork, but in 2023, this was not the case – growers further north were first-out in getting their combines into the fields.
“While it may have been the earliest start to a cereal harvest on record, it also turned out to be a very drawn out affair indeed.
“Where winter barley is concerned, most growers started combining at the beginning of July. The weather was a problem from the get-go. Growers never got an opportunity to get out into the fields for a concerted period of time, it was always a case of snatching a day here and a day there.
“And this pattern continued all the way through to October. The reality is that some crops remain in the fields,” he said.
The straw dilemma
According to Phelan, many growers had tremendous difficulty in rounding-up straw.
“The one exception was the dry week at the beginning of September, which also came in very warm.
“But as well as the difficult weather conditions, we knew that many crops would not yield well. It was also very evident that tiller numbers were very low on a number of late-sown spring barley crops.”
Teagasc figures have confirmed the average yield figure for winter barley crops harvested in 2023 came in at 8.7t/ha. However, there were tremendous differences in the actual crop performance recorded across the country.
On the upside, a significant number of tillage farmers have confirmed that oilseed rape crops performed relatively well in 2023. However, prices had dipped significantly relative to those on offer in 2022.
“Another exception was early sown spring barley crops. The same can be said for malting barley crops that were sown-out at the end of February.
“No crop stood out as doing particularly well in 2023, it was really a case of identifying crops that were less worse than the others,” Phelan said.