Winter cereal sowing is well under way across the country and as a new season begins, the From the Tramlines programme concludes for 2026 by asking the participating farmers to consider the year that’s gone by, what they have learned, what they’ll change next year and what their high and low points of the year are.

Dry weather for most of the harvest helped to ease the pressure, but it has been a challenging year for tillage farmers in many ways, from a wet spring that delayed fieldwork in some areas and a drought that curtailed the yields of many crops, to rising costs that have eroded the margins on tillage farms.

Stephen Wallace

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Mountrath, Co Laois

Stephen says he has learned to not wait too long to plant winter cereals on heavy land over the past year. Using disc coulters has also been a success for Stephen, ensuring a uniform seed depth.

Stephen's winter oilseed rape has established very welll.

It was the first year Stephen used liquid nitrogen. He was very happy with it, especially with the dry weather where it seemed to perform very well. However, Stephen notes that he will have to be a bit more careful when it comes to preventing leaf scorch.

  • High: it was Stephen’s first year growing rye and it ended up having the best yield of all crops this year. The phenomenal recovery of the late-planted oilseed rape, especially given the good return it provided with the high rapeseed prices, was another highlight for Stephen.
  • Low: the increase in costs and expenses was a low point for Stephen. He says he got his fertiliser at a decent price earlier this year, but it will be very tough in 2027.

    • Brian Crowley

    Ballycotton, Co Cork

    There were no major highs or lows for Brian this year. He says having a wide range of crops is great. If one does badly, another will usually do well to keep things on an even keel. He has learned not to panic in a wet spring where sowing is delayed. It’s better to wait for a good seedbed rather than mucking in crops and causing compaction, especially when in a min-till system. Brian reminds us that farming can be an isolating job at times. We need to look out for each other and be mindful of our own mental health.

  • High: the winter oilseed rape and late-sown spring barley were the standout crops this year.
  • Low: Brian was very disappointed in the price of malting barley. He says the feed prices were not too bad, they could have been worse given where prices were a few months ago.

    • Christopher Gill

    Caledon Estate, Co Tyrone

    The wet winter and spring gave way to a dry summer in Co Tyrone and Christopher says you forget all about the wet weather when you have lots of time to get work done over the summer months. Even if it negatively affects crops, it takes the pressure off. Christopher planted some winter wheat with a Claydon drill in the past couple of weeks which he is looking forward to following throughout the year. The cost of diesel, fertiliser and other inputs is a cause for concern for Christopher, as it is for every other farmer in the country.

  • High: Christopher’s winter oilseed rape crop stood out this year, it performed very well and was cut with ease.
  • Low: the theft of GPS units from the farm was definitely the low point for Christopher. He says the case is progressing well, but he would advise every farmer to lock up their tractors and equipment as well as they can.

    • Shaun Diver

    Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly

    It’s been a challenging year for Shaun between the weather and costs. He says he is really happy with the wholecrop of barley, oats and peas. If it was not grown this year, there would be a fodder deficit on the farm. He hopes to continue growing it in the coming years. The forage rape and forage rye have also been valuable additions to the farm.

  • High: the spring barley that yielded 3.4t/ac was the highlight for Shaun. It was after the wholecrop combi-crop that, after harvest, had been planted with forage rape for feeding over the winter. The drought didn’t affect this crop as much and it did much better than Shaun expected.
  • Low: the weather was challenging all year for Shaun. The wet spring delayed sowing and getting the livestock out and this was quickly followed by the drought. The cost of diesel and fertiliser has been another low point for Shaun.

    • Conor Callan

    Ardee, Co Louth

    Conor says he has learned to make sure crops get in on time in the autumn over the past year and to do everything you can to get a pre-emergence herbicide on cereal crops. He notes it is getting harder and harder to control grassweeds such as annual meadow grass. He also says there is no margin in tillage farming this year and something will need to be done about it.

  • High: the harvest was the high point for Conor, not in terms of the yields, but the weather that was there to get everything cut with ease. He says there’s nothing like it when things are going well.
  • Low: the wet spring that delayed fieldwork and left tramlines with deep ruts was the low point for Conor. A towing chain was required to pull the tractor and sprayer from one wet spot during a T2 fungicide application.

    • Hugh McDonnell

    Bagenalstown, Co Carlow

    It’s been “a year of tremendous variation”, according to Hugh. Grain yields were quite average, but it was very easy to get through the work at harvest with no pressure or late nights to get crops cut before rain arrived. In the past couple of weeks, Hugh says he has learned to get his winter crops in early on his heavy ground, even if it means that the risk of virus or disease is a bit higher. His crop rotation is changing next year, with the plan being to introduce beans to increase the number of years between oilseed rape crops.

  • High: the month of May was Hugh’s highlight. Crops came out of a tough spring and recovered well. He says they looked like they were full of potential as they headed out.
  • Low: the difficult spring was the low point for Hugh. He thought he would have to replant some of his winter wheat, but he was pleasantly surprised and it ended up doing reasonably well.

    • Martin Ennis

    Naul, Co Dublin

    Martin feels the tillage sector is a bit underappreciated and overlooked at present. He fears that if something is not done soon, there won’t be many farmers left and the sector will disappear.

    A stunning sunrise as Martin got in his winter crops before the rain last week.

    He says that everyone on his farm loves what they do and it’s the best job in the world, but how can they keep doing it if there’s no money to be made?

    Martin hopes to grow some more maize next year. It is an extra crop in the rotation and he can sell it directly to farmers too.

  • High: the weather was the main positive for Martin this year. He says it was a pleasure to get work done and the dry weather didn’t seem to affect their crops as much as other parts of the country.
  • Low: seeing input cost increases far outweigh rises in grain prices was the major low for Martin and it could be even more of an issue in 2027.

    • Patrick Daly

    Ballinasloe, Co Galway

    An excessively wet start to the year stressed winter crops, but the summer made up for it and crops advanced quickly. The weather is challenging once again at present as Patrick tries to get his winter cereals planted.

    Patrick's early-sown winter barley is quite forward.

    He says it is now about trying to pick off a field or two whenever he can. He has also noticed that there are lots of crows about and they seem very hungry.

  • High: the weather at harvest was the highlight for Patrick. It came good at the right time for him, even if it was a bit tougher to get the spring barley cut in September and one field of straw never got baled.
  • Low: the grain prices and rising costs are the low points for Patrick. He says the prices don’t cut it at the moment and €250/t is what’s realistically needed. He acknowledges that the budget gave tillage farmers something, but they’re still “at the bottom of the list”, according to Patrick.

    • Donald Logue

    Muff, Co Donegal

    The ground is very wet in Co Donegal now, but Donald still has most of his organic potatoes to dig. Despite this, 2026 has been a better year than 2025 for him, especially for cereals. A new combine helped Donald to get through the work a lot more quickly.

    He says it was great to get everything done on time and to be able to lend a hand to a neighbour when he was finished his own harvest. Donald is focusing on building up his soil indices with compost and dung over the next year.

  • High: it was the first time Donald ever wrapped up the spring cereal harvest before the start of September.
  • Low: one area of potatoes got overrun with chickweed that Donald couldn’t get under control. He says this is the drawback of an organic system. He topped the area and hopes the harvest won’t be too bad.

    • Gary Gillespie

    UCD Lyons Farm, Celbridge, Co Dublin

    It has been a relatively optimistic year for the novel crop research and demonstrations, according to Gary. He says the hot temperatures we are now experiencing in the summer are making some new crops a bit more viable in Ireland. If this continues, along with plant breeding advances, Gary thinks the harvest date for these crops will be brought forward, so that it will be possible to grow the crops in Ireland.

    Buckwheat has been one of the standout crops over the past few years, even if there was less biomass this year. Gary plans to trial different varieties from across Europe and Asia next year to see if any of them are more suited to Irish conditions than what he has at present.

  • High: getting crops such as sunflowers and chickpeas to ripen in time for the combine was the high point.
  • Low: Gary says the lack of weed control options that are currently available for some of these crops was a challenge.

    • Michael Martin

    Rathnure, Co Wexford

    Michael’s winter barley looked the part from emergence right up to harvest: thick, even and full of promise. Then the combine went in and the grain tank told a very different story, some of the poorest winter yields Michael has ever cut, all down to BYDV. He says he will only grow BYDV tolerant varieties in future.

    Winter barley being planted on the Martin farm in Co Wexford.

    The spring crops performed very well despite the drought but the malting barley price this year has been deeply disappointing for Michael. He notes that growing malting barley means extra hassle at every step, from management to delivery where you can spend hours in a queue at the merchant.

    “Farmers too often sit at the bottom of the food chain; carrying the risk and getting the least respect,” he says.

  • High: harvest conditions were excellent. Michael says the combine ran without a single complaint; no breakdowns and no drama from start to finish.
  • Low: Michael has a tie between two low points this year, the winter barley yields and the malting barley price.

    • Nicholas Ryan

    Clonmel, Co Tipperary

    Nicholas says it was a year of extremes, with a very wet spring and the driest summer he has ever seen.

    The weather windows for planting are getting narrower every year and it’s now imperative to have good soil structure and water infiltration.

    Nicholas planted his winter rye back in September.

    He isn’t happy with his spring barley yields, which seem to be slowly declining, while the yields of other crops rise. He will look at alternative crops and strategies to improve the spring barley yield next year. The research side of the farm had more trials than ever this year and Nicholas says they have all gone well.

  • High: the research open day Nicholas held for his company Golden Vale Research was the highlight of the year. He says it’s very satisfying to see how the work can help other farmers.
  • Low: the wildfires on Slievenamon were tough to watch for Nicholas.