After an ‘abomination’ of a year, tillage farmers ask: what should we do now?
Farmers attending the Teagasc National Tillage Conference were told not to make any rash decisions as they decide how to handle winter crops, re-sowing and seed shortages
The year 2023 was one to forget for tillage farmers, yet many can’t, as its consequences are still playing out on farms across the country. After shocking weather during the autumn sowing season, the beleaguered farmers gathered at Teagasc’s Tillage Conference last week were told that, on average, only 62pc of winter crops were in the ground.
However, the situation was much worse for some farmers. A recent Teagasc survey found that just 55pc of winter planting is completed in the Kilkenny, Wexford and Tipperary area.
On top of this, many tillage farmers are looking at fields with patchy plant emergence and crops with uncertain viability and face ripping them out and re-sowing.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, a seed shortage is threatening the spring sowing season, with seed importers going to the farthest reaches of Europe to secure supplies.
The conference heard from Tom Shortt, a tillage farmer in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, who said he had only sown about 45pc of his planned winter crop area.
“All we can do is dust ourselves down and try and get our rotation back in,” he said. “There is massive pressure on in the spring.
“If you find yourself with too much spring barley or too much spring wheat, it can have knock-on effects in the coming years.”
One of his fields, he said, got five inches of rain within a fortnight of it being sowed and there are questions over what should happen next.
“Are we going to go back in and re-sow? What will the department say if there is no crop?
“It would be a shame if we had to come back and stitch in a crop that is not viable. You’d do more damage to the existing crop.”
Another farmer, Tom Nolan, near Camolin village in Co Wexford, said he had only sown 30pc of his normal winter cropping due to the weather.
Much of that which was sown now only has very patchy plant emergence.
He was considering reseeding and said fertilising and spreading the current crop might not be worth it.
Advisors told farmers not to do anything rash, yet decisions need to be taken and they all carry risk — and many will be costly.
According to Teagasc’s survey, 47pc of the land that had been planned for winter crops will now be planted with plant spring barley with oats, wheat and beans set to account for 18pc, 16pc and 15pc, respectively.
These decisions are likely to have major impacts on farmers’ crop rotations, and Teagasc’s Dermot Forristal warned farmers against “messing up” future rotations and asked them to consider the long-term sustainability of their businesses.
Teagasc Crops Specialist Shay Phelan was given the task of advising farmers on what to do with winter crops that are planted, but which are of uncertain viability.
“Its not about how good the crop looks,” he said. “It’s about making money off it.” He noted that re-sowing is not always the best option.
Phelan highlighted a research trial from 2018 where a seed issue led to just 60-80 plants/m², however, the final crop still averaged 85pc of the control yield in the trial.
He also said that farmers may be able to pull back on their use of fertiliser on crops with lower emergence rates.
“It highlights the idea that you do not
‘It would be a shame if we had to come back and stitch in a crop that is not viable — you’d do more damage than good’
have to rip out the crop,” he said. “Give it a chance. Give it time, it can recover to establish decent yields.”
Phelan also estimated the break-even yield of re-sowing winter wheat and barley with spring crops, taking into account the extra costs, at 8.0t/ha and 7.8t/ha, respectively.
“Even though you might think you will be growing a 7.5t/ha crop of spring barely, for all the work you are putting in, the chances are you may not make money on that,” he said.
Notably, at the conference, there was limited research or trial work information available to farmers faced with patchy crops or with no winter crops planted at all.
Seed failure
It was notable that the only data presented to farmers wondering if they should re-sow fields related to a trial based on a seed failure rather than a weather-related event.
Further, Dermot Forristal noted Teagasc had limited data on the drilling of winter barley in February and March but said it does plan to sow those trials again this year.
Amid much focus on the challenges of reducing emissions from agriculture, 2023 for tillage farmers at least highlighted the need also to focus on adapting to a changing climate, particularly the impact of increased rainfall.
Even if farmers do re-sow their crops this spring, it is not clear there will be enough seed.
Teagasc estimates there is a shortfall of seed equivalent to 26,000ha or 8pc of the entire tillage area.
Tim O’Donovan of the Irish Seed Trade Association said only a few hundred to a thousand tonnes more of spring barley seed will come into the country this year.
“That’s the limit of it,” he said. “We have gone to the far side of Europe at this stage, Poland, Italy, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
“We normally would go to Denmark for seed in a situation like this, but this year, they were ringing us for seed in October.
“This is because Northern Europe, including ourselves, had an abomination of a harvest.”
He advised farmers to be prudent with their spring barley seed. “There is no reserve,” he said.