Teagasc is strongly advising tillage farmers to plan their spring plantings campaigns as a matter of priority as seed becomes scarce.
This intervention comes on the back of confirmation that there will not be enough home-grown spring barley seed to meet envisaged requirements in 2024.
Michael Hennessy, head of Teagasc’s Crops Knowledge Transfer department, said: “Seed crop yields suffered on the back of last year’s very poor weather.
“Subsequent testing of Irish-grown seed, carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine [DAFM] has also confirmed unacceptably low quality levels, particularly from a germination perspective.
“The end result is a significant drop-off in the amount of indigenous spring barley seed that will be available to Irish growers in 2024.”
Seed imports
According to Hennessy, Irish seed houses have been striving to import additional seed supplies from countries across Europe.
He said: “This is proving difficult. Brexit has created problems when it comes to sourcing seed supplies from the UK.
“The same story has also unfolded in Denmark, a country that has traditionally supplied cereal seed to the Irish market, when required.”
Aside from issues with Brexit, poor weather also impacted the 2023 cereal harvest in that part of the world in a very negative way.
Adding to the pressure on spring barley seed demand, is the fact that winter cereal planting levels are well down, year-on-year.
Irish seed houses are reporting some success in sourcing barley seed in eastern Europe. However, the varieties involved are not on the Irish list and, if imported, could only be used in 2024.
Latest estimates would indicate that a combination of Irish-saved seed and imports that can be procured would meet Ireland’s regular spring barley requirement.
Scale of the shortfall
The Teagasc representative is stressing that all of the figures now available, regarding indigenous seed quantities and quality, have been independently collated by DAFM.
“That would still leave a 30,000ha shortfall, based on the reduced levels of cereal planting undertaken last autumn.
“So, we are talking about a challenge facing tillage farmers, that is both very real and very imminent.”
In response to this scenario, Hennessy is strongly advocating that cereal growers work through a spring planting campaign with immediate effect.
“There are a number of options that be addressed in this context. If at all possible, growers should avoid a scenario which sees them harvesting an inordinate amount of spring crops at harvest time,” he said.
“This scenario unfolded last autumn. The end result was some crops not being harvested at all because of the poor weather.
“Firstly, winter wheat can be planted right through to the middle of February. The current dry spell and the prospect of this continuing gives hope that a considerable area of wheat can be planted out towards the end of January.
“Winter oats not planted out last autumn can be easily replaced by spring oats. Again, there is sufficient seed to meet this requirement,” Hennessy said.
Spring beans and forage maize
According to Hennessy, there is enough seed in the country to meet the demand created in 2023. Beans represent another spring planting option.
Another option is the planting of forage crops, including maize: “In such instances, growers should establish a market for their crops prior to planting,” he continued.
“A key advantage of forage maize is the fact that it represents a significant sump for slurry.”
Home-saved seed
Some tillage farmers may wish to use home-saved barley and bean seed, as they look ahead to the spring planting season of 2024.
“But this comes with one, very important caveat. Growers wishing to use their own seed should have it independently analysed by the Department of Agriculture prior to use,” Hennessy stressed.
“Where cereals are concerned, seed is tested in terms of both its germination and vigour-related potential. In the case of beans, a nematode test is also recommended.
“It’s imperative that tillage farmers work through a spring planting plan as soon as possible,” Hennessy said.
Meanwhile, tillage farmers can participate in Teagasc’s spring cereal planting survey up to and including next Tuesday (January 16).
“There has been a very encouraging response to the survey up to this point. However, we would be particularly keen to get the views of growers farming in the north-east region and in Cork,” Hennessy stated.
“The final results of the survey will be unveiled at the Teagasc National Tillage Conference, taking place on Wednesday, January 31,” he added.