Crops & Spreaders took place in Teagasc Oak Park last week and the event exceeded all expectations. The event essentially comprised two parts, the Teagasc crops open day and the live spreader demonstrations and trade stands which was run in conjunction with Irish Farmers Journal. Attendees saw the latest crop research underway while also getting to grips with even and accurate fertiliser spreading. But what were the key messages from the event?

Soil fertility was one of the key topics at Crops & Spreaders.

From talking to farmers, advisors and researchers on the day, it was clear to see that those who attended the event had an increased awareness of the challenges facing their tillage business. With the impending loss of chlorothalonil, the increase in BYDV pressure and higher infestations of grass weeds this year, growers came to seek answers to these challenges.

Losing control

There has been a number of big blows to the chemical toolbox of Irish tillage farmers in recent years but few as alarming as the loss of Chlorothalonil. It is the mainstay in most septoria and ramularia control programmes and growers are still coming to terms with its impending absence. As a result, work on disease control in barley and wheat as well as a focus on varieties garnered a lot of interest.

Crowds gathered at Crops & Spreaders last week to seek answers to the challenges of today. \ Philip Doyle

Growers were also particularly interested in hearing what other actives may be under pressure in the future and indeed what new actives are expected to come into play. Some of the trials showed some promising results.

IPM

Integrated pest management (IPM) and integrated weed management (IWM) were key themes. With BYDV pressure notably higher this year, growers were keen to understand the factors which increase the likelihood of infection and how to prevent this. The impact that sowing date has on BYDV pressure was an important take-home message.

Questions of grassweed control also dominated the day. The effectiveness of the use of arable margins to control grassweeds garnered a lot of interest. Weed identification and the Enable Conservation Tillage (ECT) project also proved of interest to many.

Carbon footprint

In these climate-conscious times, the means for tillage farmers to reduce their climate footprint were on show. The carbon footprint of crops (GHG emissions per kg of product) is generally substantially lower than for livestock-sourced products, such as meat and milk. However, tillage land generally stores less soil organic carbon than grassland because the land is being cultivated more regularly.

One message from the open day was that if rotations included more cover crops such as perennial grasses and legumes, this will help build up a higher proportion of active carbon in soil organic matter.

Setting resources

The fertiliser spreader demonstration formed the heart of open day and attendees saw first-hand the differences between each spreader. But one of the strongest messages from the demonstration was the need to use the spreader manufacturer’s setting resources in order set the machine correctly for each fertiliser type.

The setting resources are available on desktop, mobile app or manual and will provide either a database of fertiliser types or allow you to input specifications of the fertiliser yourself (size, strength, shape etc).

Spreading mechanisms

All five spreaders in the demonstration were trying to achieve the same thing, an even and accurate application of fertiliser. The exact mechanics of how they achieve this differ greatly.

They key points of focus on each machine were spreading system, bout width adjustment, section control and headland spreading.

The importance of correct fertiliser spreading was a key message at Crops & Spreaders. \ Philip Doyle

Systems range from changing disc size, vane size and position adjustments, drop point adjustments, altering disc speed, electronic measurement of disc torque and many more unique techniques. Each system has its pros and cons and growers should be aware of the mechanics of each before purchasing a spreader.

Headland spreading

The importance of getting headland spreading right was another key take home message, from a crop management and environmental point of view. Many of the spreaders in the demo have their own method of headlands spreading.

\ Philip Doyle

These included the use of specific vanes, altering disc speed, use of a defector and referring disc-spreading direction. Where applicable, the correct settings should be used for these headland spreading mechanisms.

Comment

As well as showcasing the ongoing work in Teagasc Oak Park and highlighting the importance of even and accurate fertiliser spreading, Crops & Spreaders served another important purpose. The event is the only large scale national tillage event where the industry can gather to show their collective significance. It is crucial that, as happened last Wednesday, tillage farmers attend these events in their thousands.

Read more

Digesters will spur interest in organic manures

Good yield prospects for wheat and barley

Listen: protecting soil fertility for higher crop yields