Crops
Assessing options to make your farm more resilient
Assessing options to make your farm more resilient Judging performance in a year such as this can give a very negative view of a farm business, writes Shay Phelan, Teagasc Crops Specialist, but it’s an opportunity to identify areas to make your farm more resilient in the years ahead. While December is […]
26 December 2023
Looking back on the tillage year & the learnings from it
Looking back on the tillage year & the learnings from it As the end of the year approaches, most tillage farmers will want to forget 2023. Unfortunately it will be remembered as a year of weather extremes and the resulting difficulties. But it is beneficial to look back on how we dealt […]
21 December 2023
Tillage advice: The importance of soil sampling
Tillage advice: The importance of soil sampling Ciaran Collins, Teagasc Crops Specialist, tells us why an up-to-date soil test report is important, while highlighting legislation changes which make soil sampling mandatory and essential when fertiliser planning for the year ahead. A former colleague once said: ‘trying to grow a crop without an […]
21 December 2023
Grower feedback wanted on winter crop plantings
Grower feedback wanted on winter crop plantings Following a challenging autumn and early winter period on tillage farms, Teagasc has launched a survey to help identify the areas planted this autumn and to shed light on farmers’ cropping plans for next spring. With wet conditions persisting from mid-September through to late-November, plantings […]
19 December 2023
Mutual benefits – Cork tillage and dairy farmers work together
Mutual benefits – Cork tillage and dairy farmers work together Ciaran Collins, Teagasc Crops Specialist, and Advisor Michael McCarthy report on Cork tillage and dairy farmers working together in a textbook example of the ‘circular economy’ at work in farming. Niall Canty and his father Denis are tillage farmers and contractors from […]
18 December 2023
Forward selling – did you miss the boat or dodge the on-coming bus?
Forward selling – did you miss the boat or dodge the on-coming bus? Michael Hennessy, Teagasc Head of Crops Knowledge Transfer, reflects on a conversation he had with Phelim Dolan, a grain trader in Comex-McKinnon, as part of an episode of the Tillage Edge podcast on grain markets and what future prices […]
14 December 2023
What to expect from the grain markets in early 2024
What to expect from the grain markets in early 2024 Over the past few months, grain markets have not hit the headlines, but are still happily functioning in the background. On the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Phelim Dolan, a grain trader in Comex-McKinnon, chats to Michael Hennessy about the current markets and […]
14 December 2023
Organic tillage research in Wexford
0 Organic tillage research in Wexford Earlier this year, Teagasc carried out an organic manure treatments trial on a crop of organic spring oats near Duncannon, Co. Wexford, Martin Bourke, Organic Tillage Specialist, tells us more. The trial consisted of four replications of eight different treatments. All the treatments were randomised within each […]
9 December 2023
Essential sprayer and tractor maintenance for the winter
0 Essential sprayer and tractor maintenance for the winter On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dermot Forristal, a researcher in Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy to talk about protecting sprayers and tractors from frost over the winter. Sprayer frost damage becomes apparent after the thaw and often when the machine is needed next, Dermot […]
8 December 2023
Tillage advice: Pest control in recently drilled winter wheat
0 Tillage advice: Pest control in recently drilled winter wheat Shay Phelan, Teagasc Crops Specialist, offers advice on the management and pest control of late-drilled winter wheat crops, herbicide programmes for winter barley and oilseed rape, while also providing a reminder on the importance of fertiliser planning for 2024. Winter wheat The dry […]
7 December 2023