Standing water in many places is now an issue for the management of later sown cereals and other crops now in the ground.
Teagasc is also confirming that planting has just about stopped on heavier soils and if the rain continues, all field work will be stalled altogether.
For crops sown out but not emerged yet, the increasingly wet conditions may well have an impact on subsequent germination rates and emergence levels.
According to Teagasc, most farmers decided against rolling and applying a pre-emergence herbicide. So other strategies will have to be applied when it comes to managing these crops.
Managing later sown cereals
Tillage specialist, Kieran Collins has highlighted some of the strategies on the latest edition of the Tillage Edge podcast.
Where current planting levels are concerned, he confirmed that greater progress had been made in the northern parts of the country, relative to regions like Cork.
“The wet weather of the last week to 10 days has had a big impact on planting rates, Collins said.
“Places like Oak Park in Co. Carlow have received more than double the amount of rain that would be expected for this time of the year.”
In terms of autumn planting levels up to this point, there is less concern regarding wheat, than is the case with barley.
Barley
According to Collins, wheat was sown before barley in some areas. The wheat area can also creep up very quickly if the weather does relent, and farmers get the chance to sow out land that was previously in maize or potatoes. This can happen in early November.
“Winter barley is a different story,” said Collins. “There has been reasonable progress made in all areas, bar the Cork region.
“The seed trade is telling me that the demand for barley seed is poor enough in that area,” he explained.
There were 70,000ha plus of winter barley grown in Ireland last year. The estimated area of the crop sown out so far this autumn is in the region of 50,000-60,000ha.
“Very few crops of winter oats have been sown in the southern half of the country,” Collins added.
“The figures may well be a little bit more positive in places like Co. Louth. But, overall the trend for oats is also trending behind what we would normally expect.
“We are also seeing patchy emergence in many later sown crops. However, most early sown crops are fine in this regard.”