According to Teagasc tillage advisors, not enough winter cereals have been drilled up to the present time.
Farmers across the country have been reporting poor autumn planting conditions over recent weeks.
However, with a small break in the weather now forecast, this situation may change over the coming few days.
According to Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan, autumn plantings are well back.
He said: “But as to what the actual planting figure might be is anyone’s guess.
“Last week Teagasc published the 2023 Harvest Report. That publication contains an estimate as to the levels of planting achieved over recent weeks.
“A lot of these figures were based on seed sales. But a lot of these seeds have yet to be planted.”
According to Phelan, approximately 35,000ha of winter barley have been sown up to this point.
“This is well down on the 53,000ha figure in 2022,” he said.
“With regard to winter wheat, we are probably talking about the same level of plantings. However, where wheat is concerned, there is still an opportunity to get new crop drilled.”
Planting winter cereals
It is technically feasible to drill winter wheat crops from now through until early February.
But according to Teagasc tillage specialist, Ciaran Collins, the northern half of the country has fared better with the weather, relative to the southern counties over recent weeks.
He explained: “There has been some ploughing and drilling work undertaken in the south of the country over recent days.
“Conditions for field work are fair. But that as good as you could describe them at the present time.
“Growers are trying to get winter wheat into the ground. But it’s very much a case of picking the best fields and taking it forward on that basis.
“I haven’t seen anything yet that’s good enough for winter barley. That’s the big crux in the system really,” he added.
Collins explained that crows can be an issue with newly sown wheat. But apart from this concern, winter wheat can be sown right up to the middle of February.
“Winter barley is a different story though. Here it’s a case of having good seed beds and upping the seed rate accordingly,” he continued.
Collins is suggesting that second wheats might well be an option on ground that growers had previously selected for winter barley.
Yes, the Take-all pressure will be higher within this scenario. But according to Collins, the figures for second wheats within this scenario do stack up.
Overall, soil conditions will determine growers’ commitment to drilling winter cereals over the coming weeks.
This will certainly be the case in the north-east, where heavier soils predominate.
Drilling winter cereals after potato crops seems a very unlikely option at the present time, such is the poor condition of those fields.
Another factor coming into play is the projected shortage of 2024 spring barley. This may encourage growers to continue planting winter wheat, where seed availability is not an issue.
And, of course, the greater the proportion of winter cereal planting achieved now, the wider will be the spread of harvest dates that are available to farmers next year.