Mitigating risks that challenge future sustainable tillage production is the theme of Teagasc's national tillage conference, which will take place on Wednesday 25 January at the Lyrath Conference Centre, Co Kilkenny.

With a strong focus on delivering science-led strategies to manage the most important pests and diseases, the conference will also look at the opportunities developing around plant protein crops.

Teagasc said that 2022 was one of the better seasons in recent memory, with excellent harvest conditions and historically high grain prices making it a profitable season for tillage farmers in spite of elevated costs.

Risks

The tillage sector faces significant risks in 2023, according to Teagasc, and these are posed by price uncertainty, the loss of chemistries for pest, disease and weed control, plus the increasing need to ensure sustainable practises to assist the agricultural industry in meeting its climate change obligations.

Speaking in advance of the conference, head of the crops science department in Teagasc Dr Ewen Mullins said that the topics covered this year are highly relevant to the issues that growers continue to face with respect to cereal disease control plus the growing threat from grassweeds.

Mitigating risk to yield potential from wheat diseases will be discussed

With a focus on developing decision support tools to support farm-to-fork goals, Teagasc researcher Dr Louise McNamara will detail the challenges of controlling barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) over recent years and how the Teagasc BYDV surveillance programme is providing invaluable insight into this disease. Complementary work will be presented by Dr Sacha White (ADAS, UK) on seeking better BYDV decision support tools for cereal growers.

Mitigating risk to yield potential from wheat diseases will be discussed by Dr Steven Kildea, Teagasc Oak Park, who will also detail the plans for a new scoping impact assessment on the sustainable use regulation, under way in 2023.

Additional updates on barley disease control for 2023 will be provided by Deirdre Doyle, as well as insight into growers’ perceptions on crop establishment systems relative to soil resilience versus the challenges of weed pressures by Jack Jameson.

Dr John Cussans (NIAB) will present on how integrated weed management (IWM) strategies are being deployed to manage grassweeds in the UK and Dr Vijaya Bhaskar, Teagasc Oak Park, will present the results of a nationwide survey on problem grass weeds and herbicide resistance in Irish tillage farms.

Profitability

Research under way through national and EU projects will detail the profitability potential of plant protein systems with manager of the Teagasc Prepared Consumer Food Centre in Ashtown, Dublin, Dr Shay Hannon highlighting the expanding demand for sources of plant proteins from Irish companies.

There will also be a session of research snapshots covering a brief detail of outputs from the Mycotox-I project, the role of advanced disease diagnostics in rapidly assessing the dynamics of BYDV, the potential of beans to reduce nitrogen (N) application in a follow-on crop, evaluating diverse collections of beans for chocolate spot resistance, plus current work to support oats as a valuable crop in rotations.

Pre-registration is required by all attendees, whether you are physically attending NTC2023 at the Lyrath or plan to tune in for the online sessions.