Welcome to the Fertilizer Association of Ireland’s annual spring supplement. This year, we feature a range of articles including a synopsis of the papers delivered at our annual spring seminar held at the The Horse & Jockey Hotel last Tuesday.
The challenge for the agri-industry in Ireland to improve our soil fertility remains a priority. According to Teagasc, our soils are still approximately 50% below where they need to be for each of the fundamental properties of phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and soil pH. Even more alarming is that only approximately 10% of soil samples being analysed are showing optimum levels for all three. That means that 90% of them were somewhat deficient in one or a combination of these key soil fertility properties.
While chemical P levels spread last year are up (37,000t) compared to the lows of 2009 (20,000t), we still have a long way to go to achieve optimum soil fertility and fully unlock the full yield potential of our soils, grassland and crops. It is vitally important to regularly soil-test your land and manage soil fertility. Make proper and maximum use of your slurry by spreading where it will be most effective, in particular on silage fields where off-takes are high.
The Department of Agriculture has launched 2017 as being “The year of Sustainable Grass” with a calendar of events being held during the year in conjunction with The Fertilizer Association of Ireland, Teagasc, AFBI, Irish Grassland Association and Bord Bia. This initiative supports the goals of Foodwise 2025 and aims to raise awareness of the role that grass plays in supporting competitive dairy and livestock production.
Please keep an eye out for these events during the year as they promise to be very worthwhile. Optimum grassland management can make a big difference to your bottom line when it comes to feeding costs.
Last year was another very busy year for the Fertilizer Association of Ireland.
We had a group of members travelling to Northern Ireland last June visiting the very impressive and modern dairy facility at Greenmount Agricultural College near Belfast. There, we got a very interesting and informative tour by Ian McCluggage and his team.
We then went on to the very scenic Glenarm, Co Antrim, to visit the lime quarry and brand new lime granulating plant of Omya UK Ltd, where we got to see the process of turning limestone rock into granules ready for spreading. Our last visit was to the suckler and sheep enterprise of John Milligan and his son Joe near Castlewellan, Co Down, where we got an overview of how they achieved significant annual profit increases by following good advice from their agricultural adviser Francis Breen to include grassland and soil fertility management, feeding regimes and targeted slaughter ages and weights.
In October, we relaunched our Nutrient Offtake Calculator in both its physical wheel and smartphone app forms. The app is available for free download for Apple or Android devices from their respective app stores. The calculator is also available as a working tool directly from our website. A word of thanks to KS UK & Eire Ltd for all their help in the design, print and provision of the physical wheel version and also to the council members who played no small part in developing and designing these handy tools.
This calculator is now widely used by advisers, consultants and agri-sales personnel as an accurate tool for giving good nutrient on-farm advice.
We also launched the second of a series of technical advice bulletins in October, once again in conjunction with Teagasc at its annual soil fertility conference.
This bulletin is a very comprehensive technical booklet on everything to do with soil pH and liming and is also available for download from our website. Other bulletins on soil testing and analysis and all our historic Spring Seminar proceedings are also available from our website www.fertilizer-assoc.ie. This is an invaluable source of information for everything to do with soil fertility and agronomy. Please feel free to browse.
If you want to find out more about our organisation or have any enquiries, please drop us a line on our email address at info@fertilizer-assoc.ie. A final word of thanks to all our contributors to this year’s supplement, and to the ongoing support of the Irish Farmers Journal. We hope you enjoy reading it.
Read more
Lime remains key priority for soil fertility on heavy soils farms
Nitrogen for winter barley
Updating nutrient recommendations for Irish farms
P and K for cereal crops – protecting the bottom line
Spreading: the machine counts
Back to basics: soil fertility underpins grassland potential
Put safety first on your farm this spring
Welcome to the Fertilizer Association of Ireland’s annual spring supplement. This year, we feature a range of articles including a synopsis of the papers delivered at our annual spring seminar held at the The Horse & Jockey Hotel last Tuesday.
The challenge for the agri-industry in Ireland to improve our soil fertility remains a priority. According to Teagasc, our soils are still approximately 50% below where they need to be for each of the fundamental properties of phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and soil pH. Even more alarming is that only approximately 10% of soil samples being analysed are showing optimum levels for all three. That means that 90% of them were somewhat deficient in one or a combination of these key soil fertility properties.
While chemical P levels spread last year are up (37,000t) compared to the lows of 2009 (20,000t), we still have a long way to go to achieve optimum soil fertility and fully unlock the full yield potential of our soils, grassland and crops. It is vitally important to regularly soil-test your land and manage soil fertility. Make proper and maximum use of your slurry by spreading where it will be most effective, in particular on silage fields where off-takes are high.
The Department of Agriculture has launched 2017 as being “The year of Sustainable Grass” with a calendar of events being held during the year in conjunction with The Fertilizer Association of Ireland, Teagasc, AFBI, Irish Grassland Association and Bord Bia. This initiative supports the goals of Foodwise 2025 and aims to raise awareness of the role that grass plays in supporting competitive dairy and livestock production.
Please keep an eye out for these events during the year as they promise to be very worthwhile. Optimum grassland management can make a big difference to your bottom line when it comes to feeding costs.
Last year was another very busy year for the Fertilizer Association of Ireland.
We had a group of members travelling to Northern Ireland last June visiting the very impressive and modern dairy facility at Greenmount Agricultural College near Belfast. There, we got a very interesting and informative tour by Ian McCluggage and his team.
We then went on to the very scenic Glenarm, Co Antrim, to visit the lime quarry and brand new lime granulating plant of Omya UK Ltd, where we got to see the process of turning limestone rock into granules ready for spreading. Our last visit was to the suckler and sheep enterprise of John Milligan and his son Joe near Castlewellan, Co Down, where we got an overview of how they achieved significant annual profit increases by following good advice from their agricultural adviser Francis Breen to include grassland and soil fertility management, feeding regimes and targeted slaughter ages and weights.
In October, we relaunched our Nutrient Offtake Calculator in both its physical wheel and smartphone app forms. The app is available for free download for Apple or Android devices from their respective app stores. The calculator is also available as a working tool directly from our website. A word of thanks to KS UK & Eire Ltd for all their help in the design, print and provision of the physical wheel version and also to the council members who played no small part in developing and designing these handy tools.
This calculator is now widely used by advisers, consultants and agri-sales personnel as an accurate tool for giving good nutrient on-farm advice.
We also launched the second of a series of technical advice bulletins in October, once again in conjunction with Teagasc at its annual soil fertility conference.
This bulletin is a very comprehensive technical booklet on everything to do with soil pH and liming and is also available for download from our website. Other bulletins on soil testing and analysis and all our historic Spring Seminar proceedings are also available from our website www.fertilizer-assoc.ie. This is an invaluable source of information for everything to do with soil fertility and agronomy. Please feel free to browse.
If you want to find out more about our organisation or have any enquiries, please drop us a line on our email address at info@fertilizer-assoc.ie. A final word of thanks to all our contributors to this year’s supplement, and to the ongoing support of the Irish Farmers Journal. We hope you enjoy reading it.
Read more
Lime remains key priority for soil fertility on heavy soils farms
Nitrogen for winter barley
Updating nutrient recommendations for Irish farms
P and K for cereal crops – protecting the bottom line
Spreading: the machine counts
Back to basics: soil fertility underpins grassland potential
Put safety first on your farm this spring
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