Weather: There is some more hot weather on the way next week. Crops have coped well with the weather so far. There is moisture in the ground and most crops have a good covering to stop it from drying out. During all the hot weather last week we never saw plants come under huge stress. Wheat leaves weren’t curling up and while barley moved along it didn’t ripen in too much at the time. The cooler weather of the last few days has been great to slow crops down.

Winter barley: Varieties like KWS Joyau, Integral and Orcade, are all early varieties. They are likely to be among the first in. A nice number of crops will likely be cut in the coming days though if the weather allows – Joyau and Integral being the ones that look closest to being ready. Most winter barley is another while off though and it’s great that it is holding its green colour and coming in slowly for yield. Heavy rain on Monday night and Tuesday morning did damage to some winter barley crops in parts of the country, other crops were hit previously.

Harvest preparations: Get things ready for harvest. Make sure all machinery is serviced. Combines, balers, trailers should all be ready to go. Are trailers clean? Have you net wrap ordered? Are there fire extinguishers in all combines, tractors, machines?

Trailer numbers: Remember this year you need to have trailer numbers on your grain trailers. It should be your IGAS number plus the trailer number. It will look like this 1234 – 1. So, your four-digit IGAS number and then your trailer number. If you can’t find your IGAS number, then search your phone for your IGAS text messages and your number should be in a text message. The number should be placed on each side of the trailer and be visible to the weighbridge operator.

SIM: Letters for the Straw Incorporation Measure have not yet been issued. There are just over 5,200ha of winter barley entered into the SIM so these farmers are in some limbo and no doubt looking back at what happened in 2024. The only thing you can really do is ring the Department, but this is unlikely to provide you with an answer of whether to chop or not. There have been underspends in the budget which would likely cover the current over subscription. Keep an eye on farmersjournal.ie in the coming days for news.

Grass weeds: Continue to walk crops and check for grass weeds. There are more and more reports of weeds left uncontrolled in crops. Pulling a few plants this year could prevent a major issue next year and the years after it.

Varieties: Next week’s paper we has a focus on varieties, with all of the varieties from the recent open days, details on new and upcoming varieties of cereals, beans and oilseed rape. We seed availability figures and have interesting stories on what’s new in plant breeding and the Irish seed market.