With increased interest in reduced tillage, Jack Jameson gave an update on his research examining three different crop establishment methods at the Teagasc National Tillage Conference on Thursday 27 January, which was held online.

Jack noted that, at present, growers are dependent on research from different conditions and climates to what we have here in Ireland.

Climate can have a significant impact on soils, crop management and performance, as well as economic and environmental sustainability.

Plant counts

Looking at 21 focus farms, divided equally between plough, minimum-tillage and no-till systems and across light, medium and heavy soils, Jack noted that plant counts of first winter wheat crops were highest in no-till fields. He commented that this may be due to high seeding rates and earlier planting dates.

It should be noted that all results in this research are based on one year’s data, so a more robust set of data will be needed before anything definitive can be taken from the results.

Jack noted there is an indication that no-till farmers spend less on inputs

In small plot trials examining the three systems at the Knockbeg research station, crops varied in growth stages throughout the season, but all reached growth stage 37 at a similar time.

On the most important result of crop yield, the first winter wheat crops which were established using ploughing and minimum-tillage came in at similar levels between 13t/ha and 14t/ha, while the yield on no-till farms was below 12t/ha.

However, Jack noted there is an indication that no-till farmers spend less on inputs. Time and machinery costs are also considerations for farmers.

In the small plot trials, where management was identical across systems, no significant difference in yield was found, with crops yielding approximately 14t/ha.

Survey

Finally, Jack is carrying out a survey with tillage farmers using different establishment methods to gather farmers’ views on how the system is working for them, while also trying to assess where they source their information on the different tillage systems.

He aims to carry out over 140 surveys with tillage farmers farming over 50ha of land.