The Department of Agriculture and the Irish Seed Trade identified eight incidences of blackgrass in crops being grown for seed in 2022.

These crops were taken out of seed production, but reinforce the major problem which blackgrass has become in Ireland.

At the Irish Seed Trade Association’s (ISTA) seminar in Tullow on Wednesday, Donal Fitzgerald announced a new higher voluntary standard scheme for blackgrass control.

He explained that most cover crop seed is imported as straights into Ireland as they cannot be grown very well here due to climate.

ISTA members assembling cover crop mixes will carry out a 3kg seed search on each seed lot being imported. This seed will have an orange cert on arrival into Ireland. Only lots of seed with zero blackgrass will be used in mixtures for sale to Irish farmers.

“We want to make sure the constituents of the mixtures are clean. It’s a reassurance to growers and the industry,” he commented.

Ireland’s seed trade already has a zero tolerance in cereal seed for blackgrass and other grass weeds, as well as wild oats, which is classified as a noxious weed. This is not the case in other EU countries or the UK.

John Mahon from Teagasc explained the incidence of blackgrass continued to increase in 2022 and stated that one plant per metre squared can result in the production of 6m seeds per hectare. The only herbicide which can fully control the weed is glyphosate.