Footprint Farmer Gareth Culligan has made some big changes in how he runs his tillage enterprise, just outside Stabannon in Co Louth.
At the moment, Gareth is waiting on ground temperatures to warm up a bit before he starts sowing spring crops.
He has almost 20 units of nitrogen (N) on most of the winter crops to date.
Next on the list is getting some more nutrition on.
He will then start sowing beans.
Gareth’s crops don’t normally get any herbicide until the spring and in terms of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), his ground is doing well, with both P and K at Index 4.
Most of the fields will get no P and K again this year, with one field not having received any in 14 years.
In terms of how Gareth achieves this, he practises conservation tillage which, on his farm, involves no till, cover crops and strict rotations.
Gareth, who is a BASE Ireland member has strict rotations in place on the farm, and also does a lot of soil sampling.
The pHs are fairly good across the farm, and Gareth says that variable rate lime spreading has had an important role in this.
Calcium and magnesium are also out on the fields to balance this out.
One of the fields on the farm had a pH of 7 in some parts, followed by a pH of 5.8.
After variable-rate lime spreading six years ago, the field was mapped five years after and the pH had levelled out.
Now, it gets half a tonne of lime per acre to keep it topped up.
Gareth uses the Albrecht soil-testing theory to ensure the soil biology is balanced.
The theory behind this method is to get the calcium to magnesium ratio to 68% Ca, 12% Mg and 4% K, which is the best for soil structure.
The role of crop rotations
Cover crops and companion crops are key to maintaining his P and K at Index 4 with little chemical intervention needed.
Gareth made the switch from a conventional ploughing system in 2001, and started min-tilling, and evolved to direct drilling and eventually no till in 2015.
A four-way mix of winter wheat varieties on the right and a six way mix on the left. There's a lot less yellow rust seen in the six-way mix on the right.
When he was in min till, he had no rotations in place and was growing three crops of winter barley in a row. This led to a lot of issues with weeds and, in particular, sterile brome.
Gareth was spending a lot on chemical control to keep on top of weeds and then decided to start using rotations in an effort to cut costs on herbicides.
He thinks on a conventional farm, after sowing winter barley, a pre-emergence spray is needed but since introducing strict rotations Gareth has managed to cut this out and instead goes in with a herbicide in the spring.
It was both the cost of the pre-emergence sprays and the effect they were having on the plants that convinced him to stop it.
Cover crop on the left v no cover crop on the right. The lack of cover has given way to lots of weeds on the right side.
Now, he has eliminated the pre-emergence spray as he grows the winter barley after winter beans, so he feels it gets a good, clean start.
The rotation also means Gareth only needs to use glyphosate once throughout the year, just before he goes in with the drill, to take out any volunteer weeds or a cover crop.
Lower costs
While he acknowledges that his yields would be 0.5t/ac behind that of a conventional system in his area, he says that his costs are a lot lower.
There is also less labour required, and one of the reasons why Gareth made the switch in 2001, is that it was originally just for machinery purposes.
“We never thought about soil health then,” he says. “It was all about getting the job done quicker.
“The system has evolved a lot since then. We started learning more and more about soil health.”
Gareth stresses that the strict rotation is key to the success of his system. Some years, he even manages to avoid using a herbicide on some of the wheat crops.
“It’s all a big saving money wise, as well as avoiding putting the plant under any stress from the herbicides,” says Gareth.
Wheat drilled after winter rape with summer cover crop, the ground is completely covered.
Gareth also manages to grow the winter wheat using only one fungicide. To achieve this, he doesn’t sow early and instead delays sowing until October.
He also achieves this through mixing varieties, and picking ones which complement each other in terms of yellow rust resistance and the quality of the grains.
For example, Gareth mixed winter wheat varieties Avatar and Costello. Costello has good yellow rust resistance and therefore it is hoped that the patches of the disease won’t spread throughout the whole field if there is a mix of the varieties.
Since he started mixing varieties, he noticed that yellow rust has decreased in intensity.
However, despite reducing his reliance on chemical inputs, Gareth doesn’t believe he will ever go organic. If he ever got a bad year for septoria, he would need the backup plan to use a fungicide spray and he likes having a backup plan.
Cropping plan and companion crops
Gareth’s farm is a mix of owned and rented ground. This year, he is farming 600 acres in six blocks.
He aims to grow 100 acres of beans every year, as well as 100 acres of winter barley.
With winter barley, he normally goes in with a summer cover crop after and then sows winter beans. The beans would also have a companion crop, which is buckwheat, phacelia or linseed. This adds more diversity to the soil and Gareth likes to keep roots in the ground. While companion crops can be dear, you don’t need to sow a high rate of them to get a good bulk, says Gareth.
Footprint Farmer Gareth Culligan practises conservation tillage on his farm in Stabannon, Co Louth.
He reiterates that it is all about root development. He finds that buckwheat opens up the phosphorus within the ground, leaving it available to the next plant. It also provides green cover which prevents nutrient run-off and also combats weeds.
Gareth maintains that changing systems has been a mix of trial and error, often with expensive mistakes.
He once sowed winter barley and sowed a companion crop of oats into it.
However, he thinks that due to the allelopathic effect of oats, the winter barley failed. The allelopathic effect, which is an interaction between chemicals produced by plants, will stop any grass or cereal plants from germinating.
Instead, Gareth sows oats with beans as a companion crop, and sprays off the oats with a graminicide.
Normally, he would need to put a pre-emergence spray on beans at a cost of €35/ac. However, the oats knock out this spray. This is an example of where a companion crop works well.
Footprint Farmer Gareth Culligan has made some big changes in how he runs his tillage enterprise, just outside Stabannon in Co Louth.
At the moment, Gareth is waiting on ground temperatures to warm up a bit before he starts sowing spring crops.
He has almost 20 units of nitrogen (N) on most of the winter crops to date.
Next on the list is getting some more nutrition on.
He will then start sowing beans.
Gareth’s crops don’t normally get any herbicide until the spring and in terms of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), his ground is doing well, with both P and K at Index 4.
Most of the fields will get no P and K again this year, with one field not having received any in 14 years.
In terms of how Gareth achieves this, he practises conservation tillage which, on his farm, involves no till, cover crops and strict rotations.
Gareth, who is a BASE Ireland member has strict rotations in place on the farm, and also does a lot of soil sampling.
The pHs are fairly good across the farm, and Gareth says that variable rate lime spreading has had an important role in this.
Calcium and magnesium are also out on the fields to balance this out.
One of the fields on the farm had a pH of 7 in some parts, followed by a pH of 5.8.
After variable-rate lime spreading six years ago, the field was mapped five years after and the pH had levelled out.
Now, it gets half a tonne of lime per acre to keep it topped up.
Gareth uses the Albrecht soil-testing theory to ensure the soil biology is balanced.
The theory behind this method is to get the calcium to magnesium ratio to 68% Ca, 12% Mg and 4% K, which is the best for soil structure.
The role of crop rotations
Cover crops and companion crops are key to maintaining his P and K at Index 4 with little chemical intervention needed.
Gareth made the switch from a conventional ploughing system in 2001, and started min-tilling, and evolved to direct drilling and eventually no till in 2015.
A four-way mix of winter wheat varieties on the right and a six way mix on the left. There's a lot less yellow rust seen in the six-way mix on the right.
When he was in min till, he had no rotations in place and was growing three crops of winter barley in a row. This led to a lot of issues with weeds and, in particular, sterile brome.
Gareth was spending a lot on chemical control to keep on top of weeds and then decided to start using rotations in an effort to cut costs on herbicides.
He thinks on a conventional farm, after sowing winter barley, a pre-emergence spray is needed but since introducing strict rotations Gareth has managed to cut this out and instead goes in with a herbicide in the spring.
It was both the cost of the pre-emergence sprays and the effect they were having on the plants that convinced him to stop it.
Cover crop on the left v no cover crop on the right. The lack of cover has given way to lots of weeds on the right side.
Now, he has eliminated the pre-emergence spray as he grows the winter barley after winter beans, so he feels it gets a good, clean start.
The rotation also means Gareth only needs to use glyphosate once throughout the year, just before he goes in with the drill, to take out any volunteer weeds or a cover crop.
Lower costs
While he acknowledges that his yields would be 0.5t/ac behind that of a conventional system in his area, he says that his costs are a lot lower.
There is also less labour required, and one of the reasons why Gareth made the switch in 2001, is that it was originally just for machinery purposes.
“We never thought about soil health then,” he says. “It was all about getting the job done quicker.
“The system has evolved a lot since then. We started learning more and more about soil health.”
Gareth stresses that the strict rotation is key to the success of his system. Some years, he even manages to avoid using a herbicide on some of the wheat crops.
“It’s all a big saving money wise, as well as avoiding putting the plant under any stress from the herbicides,” says Gareth.
Wheat drilled after winter rape with summer cover crop, the ground is completely covered.
Gareth also manages to grow the winter wheat using only one fungicide. To achieve this, he doesn’t sow early and instead delays sowing until October.
He also achieves this through mixing varieties, and picking ones which complement each other in terms of yellow rust resistance and the quality of the grains.
For example, Gareth mixed winter wheat varieties Avatar and Costello. Costello has good yellow rust resistance and therefore it is hoped that the patches of the disease won’t spread throughout the whole field if there is a mix of the varieties.
Since he started mixing varieties, he noticed that yellow rust has decreased in intensity.
However, despite reducing his reliance on chemical inputs, Gareth doesn’t believe he will ever go organic. If he ever got a bad year for septoria, he would need the backup plan to use a fungicide spray and he likes having a backup plan.
Cropping plan and companion crops
Gareth’s farm is a mix of owned and rented ground. This year, he is farming 600 acres in six blocks.
He aims to grow 100 acres of beans every year, as well as 100 acres of winter barley.
With winter barley, he normally goes in with a summer cover crop after and then sows winter beans. The beans would also have a companion crop, which is buckwheat, phacelia or linseed. This adds more diversity to the soil and Gareth likes to keep roots in the ground. While companion crops can be dear, you don’t need to sow a high rate of them to get a good bulk, says Gareth.
Footprint Farmer Gareth Culligan practises conservation tillage on his farm in Stabannon, Co Louth.
He reiterates that it is all about root development. He finds that buckwheat opens up the phosphorus within the ground, leaving it available to the next plant. It also provides green cover which prevents nutrient run-off and also combats weeds.
Gareth maintains that changing systems has been a mix of trial and error, often with expensive mistakes.
He once sowed winter barley and sowed a companion crop of oats into it.
However, he thinks that due to the allelopathic effect of oats, the winter barley failed. The allelopathic effect, which is an interaction between chemicals produced by plants, will stop any grass or cereal plants from germinating.
Instead, Gareth sows oats with beans as a companion crop, and sprays off the oats with a graminicide.
Normally, he would need to put a pre-emergence spray on beans at a cost of €35/ac. However, the oats knock out this spray. This is an example of where a companion crop works well.
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