Newtowncunningham drystock and tillage farmer, Peter Lynch, will host a crop walk on Thursday next, November 16.
Those attending will have the opportunity to gauge the progress achieved to-date by recently planted winter barley and wheat crops.
Peter grows a mix of wheat, barley and winter oilseed rape. His winter barley crops are grown to a malting specification.
“I managed to get 90ac of winter barley drilled in early October. The two varieties sown were Craft, a malting option, and Corcade, which has claimed Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus tolerance,” he explained.
“This has been a very difficult autumn planting season. We also managed to get 30ac of winter wheat drilled. But the ground is in very poor shape.
It’s very unlikely that we will get any further winter planting completed this year,” he added.
Tillage
Reflecting on what has been a very challenging year for tillage, Peter confirmed that only one third of his 2023 barley was accepted for malting.
“The rest was too high in protein. We sell our malting barley to Agricare. What doesn’t make the cut from a malting perspective, we can use ourselves to feed cattle,” he said.
“The 2023 harvest was extremely difficult across the board. Yields were well down across the board.”
According to Peter, all of winter-sown crops are looking well at the present time, despite the challenging difficulties at planting and the subsequent heavy rain.
“Ground conditions were very bad directly after drilling. As a result, it wasn’t possible to get a pre-emergence herbicide on to the barley,” he said.
“The plan now is to get on with a post-emergence option as soon as ground conditions permit.
“Slugs are a particular problem on ground that was previously in oilseed rape. Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus is always an issue in this part of the world, which is why I opted for a tolerant option this year.”
The farm walk follows on from a cereals meeting that will be held in An Grianán Hotel, near Burt, on Wednesday, October 15.
Hosted by Agricare, the event will provide for an in-depth discussion on the prospects for malting barley in 224. Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG) chairman, Bobby Miller, will be among the speakers taking part.