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Viewpoints
Home Farm: A mixed week on and off farm
Matt Dempsey
Ploughing visit – I had a few farm items that I wanted to do, which in my view, needed face to face contact.
27 September 2023 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: The 2023 Ploughing
One got the impression that President Higgins wanted to be at the Ploughing, and that he went to real trouble to deliver a speech on a topic he believed in.
20 September 2023 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: One spray instead of 12
We badly need innovations in this space, without them we in Europe will slip further and further behind in our ability to produce crops competitively.
Home Farm: we have swung from high summer to winter
We have excellent regrowth from the second cut silage so we have begun grazing it and we will work our way through it, shifting the electric fences on a daily basis for each group.
20 September 2023 Viewpoints
Home Farm: farming to meet regulations
We are making sure that we meet the regulatory deadlines in having all the slurry out by 30 September and any fertiliser used by 15 September.
13 September 2023 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: nitrates and the EPA
This is not the first time that the Environmental Protection Agency has appeared to display a bias against agriculture and farmers.
13 September 2023 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: Milk and cereal prices
The old certainty that milk demand will continue indefinitely to increase by 2% a year is now not looking so definite.
6 September 2023 Viewpoints
Home Farm: fields now cleared of straw
We got the oilseed rape sown and rolled. Like last year, we stubble-cultivated and then went in with a disc and crumbler bars and followed with the one-pass.
6 September 2023 Viewpoints
Home Farm: Paper, planning and badgers
We have signed up for the compulsory national fertiliser database which will record all fertiliser purchases and stocks. This will be another annual return that will, from now, on have to be made.
30 August 2023 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: Drainage in Kerry
The actual principle of effective arterial drainage is being challenged.
30 August 2023 Viewpoints
Home Farm: A few dry days to catch up
While the second cut has been taken a fortnight later than normal, it is still a relief to have the winter fodder supply secured with practically no damage to the ground.
23 August 2023 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: A tough farming year
While the basic vocation and role of farmers might be seen to be food production, the market, regulatory and taxation systems can make or break individual enterprises.
23 August 2023 Viewpoints