Last week provided a great opportunity to make a burst at spring planting and allowed sowing to be almost complete in the south and midlands.

As you move northeast and west, many did not make it into fields until Thursday of last week as they waited for land to dry.

Rain hit some parts on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but in the northwest very little rain hit and growers got a well-deserved break to allow up to 70% of crops to be planted in some cases.

Some areas were hit worse than others on rainfall over the weekend and Monday. For example, Mullingar saw over 27mm of rainfall, Dublin Airport had 13.5mm, Malin Head had 0.6mm, Cork Airport had 2.6mm and Johnstown Castle had 16.5mm.

Survey

A survey of agronomists across the country (see tillage pages 36-37) showed that on average 77% of spring cereals were planted across the country as of Monday.

Further progress was made in parts as the week continued, but planting remains low in the northeast with at least 35-50% of cereals to go in and potato drilling is delayed significantly.

As of Monday, reports from Co Wexford were that 20-30% of cereals were still to be planted. Progress was similar in the midlands, with 15-30% still to be planted.

In Cork, 80-95% of crops were in. An estimated 90% of cereal crops were to be planted in Co Tipperary and 85-90% in Co Kilkenny. In Galway, work was delayed by rain on Saturday.

Delayed sowing raises concerns for achieving high yield potential and meeting protein specifications for malting barley.

Focus was turning to maize and beet in parts of the southeast, midlands and south of the country at the end of last week and this week.