Tillage Newsletter – July 2025

By Crops Specialist team

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In this month’s edition:

• Cover crops
  Sowing date of cover crops is crucial. The more growth that takes place, the more nitrates will be taken up. Large biomass production is vital to maximise the benefits of cover crops, and early sowing is essential to achieve good autumn growth and subsequent large biomass.
• Stubble cultivation
  The Nitrates Directive is designed to prevent pollution of surface waters and groundwater from agricultural sources, and to protect and improve water quality.
• Glyphosate label changes
  Glyphosate can no longer be used for harvest management. This applies to all crops, including oilseed rape. This was one of the key changes when glyphosate was reregistered last year.
• Resistance testing – grass/broadleaved weeds
  Are weeds still present in your crop at harvest? This could be a sign of herbicide resistance. Avail of free herbicide resistance testing from Oak Park for grass or broadleaved weeds in tillage crops.
• Health & Safety – Children farm safety webinar
  With children home from school, they are particularly vulnerable to dangers on the farm, like vehicles, livestock, and slurry pits. Children must be supervised at all times when they are on a farm. Teagasc recently produced an informative farm safety webinar for children, ‘Stay safe with Jessy’, which featured Agrikids. Jessy is the Teagasc farm safety mascot. Take time to show this to the young people in your life. Watch the webinar back here