‘Farmers are more reliant on chemistry than they should be’

Catherine Hurley talked to farmers at the Teagasc National Tillage Conference about the impact of a potential EU ban on key chemicals in sprays such as Roundup and Bravo Dominic farms mostly cereals, winter barley and winter wheat, but planted beans instead of oats this year. He sells some seed to Seedtech, while also having a few sucklers.

“I’m keeping an eye on things in Europe, mainly chlorothalonil on wheat and barley. We’ll manage with the wheat, but I don’t know what we’ll do with the barley — but we will manage it,” he says.

“The price is an increasingly worrying issue. The year that we’re not paid enough can have a huge effect on the following 12 months.

“With barley, there’s no issue until later in the season.

Last year, we actually sprayed twice and earlier for Ramularia leaf spot. There’s other products for chlorothalonil, so it will be okay.”

Dominic is operating the same acreage this year as normal.

He said rotation forced more barley to go in early, and he ran out of ground for oil seed rape because of the long rotation, but he’s now working on other ground that can be used in coming years.

JAMES BRENNAN

James farms winter barley, winter wheat, oil seed rape, gluten-free oats and malting barley.

“Obviously the potential loss of glyphosate is quite worrying — there’s nothing to replace it. It’s important for Teagasc to work with farmers to find a solution and help them to work without these products.”

With proper responsible use, glyphosate shouldn’t be a health issue , he says, adding that it’s more the misuse of these products that

should be the concern.

TOM CURRAN

The former tillage farmer is now operating a mixed enterprise of dairy and sheep while also working for Connolly’s.

“These moves towards more restrictions on key active ingredients are very worrying,” he says.

“I don’t think enough farmers have embraced IPM (integrated pest management) properly and are more reliant on the chemistry than they should be.”

He says farmers will have no choice but to move towards better IPM measures and use integrated measures and chemistry such as selecting varieties for disease resistance.

“There should also be a ban on home sale seed — get rid of this completely and only use certified seed that’s available. It’s a pet hate of mine.

“I’ve no doubt farmers will cope, they’re very resilient and they have proved this time and time again. I’m very optimistic about that.”

DONAL O’KEEFFE

Donal says he’s concerned about the potential loss of Roundup and Bravo as they min-mintill and direct drill on his farm, which will be very difficult to do without Roundup.

However, he says he still has great belief in chemistry.

“I try to reduce the cost of chemistry I put on the crops by using good practices with them,” he says. “Maybe other products will come to the market to replace them. I don’t know any farmer that spends money on chemistry if they don’t need it.”

He says that although the acreage he’s operating this year is the same as last year, he’s back from where it was two years ago.

“I’m working a little bit less, but I’m concentrating on getting more from what I’m doing, by doing it better,” he adds. “It’s difficult to get land to let where I am. Despite the beef lads complaining they’re not making any money, they’re still competitive when it comes to land.”

FREDFRED MURRAYMURRAY

Fred is farmingfarming 40ac, where he once was operating 160ac. He says he scaled back for personal reasons rather than the issues such as the price of grain.

He is sowing winter barley and has recently let out much of his land, and is contract sowing and spraying instead.

On the issue of chemical bans, he says: “There are other products as well as IPM measures we can implement. Tillage management will change as we know it.

“Roundup is great to keep the ground clean and fresh. We don’t have to till it as often to maintain it. It’ll be a cost if we don’t have it.”

JAMES O’LOUGHLIN

“It’s going to be a lot harder with winter wheat without Bravo, and a lot harder to control Ramularia in winter barley,” says James, who is sowing winter barley, winter wheat and spring barley.

“Also, lower yields and higher input costs associated with this will have a negative effect on the farmer’s pocket.”

He adds that the lower yields and higher input costs have encouraged him to move back to spring crops such as malting barley with the bonus of premiums and good yield returns.

“We’ll have to make better use of IPM tools such as variety selection, later sowing dates and good stubble hygiene,” he says.

“We’re sowing the same amount of winter crops as always. Basically, even though the drought had a huge effect on the performance of spring crops, it’s unlikely that we’ll have another year like it — and spring crops suit our system well.”