20 April 2023

An update from Romania with Jim McCarthy

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Irishman Jim McCarthy, who manages a large tract of land in northern Romania, talks to Michael Hennessy about spring plantings, costs of inputs, machinery capacity and why many countries have banned imports of Ukrainian grain.

Jim says that due to recent rainfall, the farm is behind in the planting of 12,000ha of spring crops, though the recent wet weather has recharged soil moisture reserves which will help to drive yields this year. 

Jim explains how he is trying to preserve crop financial margins by delaying fertiliser purchases as long as he can and holding off buying plant protection products. However, he points to his low machinery costs of €100/ha being of real benefit in a year like this.

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast, produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com, visit the show page.