The Teagasc crops team is beginning a month’s worth of tillage events, which will offer farmers timely and practical advice to meet some of the key challenges arising at farm level.
The events will deal with issues such as reduced winter sowings and the associated additional workload this will bring as well as strategies to overcome the expected spring seed shortage,.
Teagasc has said that the events will also make growers aware of key agronomic and regulatory changes that will affect their farm businesses over the coming season.
Farmers will be offered workable solutions to ease the strain at farm level.
Spring Tillage Seminars
A series of Spring Tillage Seminars is ongoing in venues across the country over the coming weeks.
These seminars will closely examine the main challenges facing tillage farmers for 2024, including:
- Poor winter crops, the actions needed;
- spring crop options, what best for your farm;
- Nutrient management and the new fertiliser register;
- Spring seed availability.
For a full list, and to find the nearest Spring Tillage Seminar to your farm, click here.
Irish Agricultural Supply Industry Standards (IASIS) points are available for these seminars.
National Tillage Conference
Another diary date is this year’s Teagasc National Tillage Conference, which takes place on Wednesday, January 31 at the Lyrath Conference Centre, Co. Kilkenny.
This event will feature a specific session on scenario planning for the season ahead, in light of the impact recent weather events had on winter sowing and an expected tightening in seed availability for the spring cropping season.
A series of practical and interactive workshops is another key highlight.
Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with researchers and advisors on topics such as:
- What synergies exist for the tillage and dairy sector;
- Getting to grips with grassweeds;
- Disease control decisions for 2024;
- Getting the most out a bean crop;
- What do the 2030 Food Vision Tillage Group recommendations mean for the sector.
Delegates will also receive an update on Teagasc’s research activities in the areas of barley seed health, the trade-offs of crop establishment strategies, Teagasc’s weed monitoring strategy, as well as work on mycotoxin prevalence in cereals.
Additionally, a dedicated session will describe the exciting potential for domestically-sourced cereal to support a strongly-branded and now diverse drinks industry.
The added-value opportunities for the sector in plant-derived protein will also be discussed.
Pre-registration for the National Tillage Conference is necessary. To do so, click the following link. IASIS points will be available for this event.
Teagasc Malting Barley Conference
The Teagasc Malting Barley Conference – as part of the Teagasc/Boortmalt Joint Programme – is scheduled to take place on February 20 at the Riverside Park Hotel, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.
It will give farmers and the industry an insight into the latest research and results from joint programme activities.
Session one will feature Jonny Roberts from Boortmalt, who will highlight the evolution of Boortmalt in the last two years and its plan going forward towards reducing carbon emissions.
The malting barley varieties available to growers will be discussed in detail during this session, while Rebecca Bayley with outline the Teagasc/Boortmalt Joint Programme results.
Session two focuses on nitrogen and nitrates losses, and will feature Teagasc speakers Edward Burgess and Richie Hackett.
The former will discuss nitrogen loss to water from tillage land, while the latter will discuss solutions to nitrate loss from spring barley systems.
For more information on any of the upcoming tillage events please visit www.teagasc.ie/tillagemonth
