Weather

Last week brought difficult weather for many. Maize crops were knocked in the wind. Spring cereals left to be cut deteriorated further in quality, and no weather appeared for the harvesting of spring beans or oilseed rape.

Wet conditions have also left many fields with a lot of drying to do before winter cereals are established.

However, drier weather is on the way and will hopefully provide an opportunity to harvest fallen maize crops as soon as possible, bring moisture contents down in bean crops and salvage what’s left of cereal crops where possible.

The slurry spreading deadline has been extended again to 14 October. The closed period will now begin on 15 October.

Planting

Some have managed to get winter cereals in, and machinery was moving on Tuesday and Wednesday in drier parts of the country this week, but there have been very few opportunities. There is a lot of drying to be done in many areas before ploughs, cultivators and drills move, but it is still early.

Delaying planting can reduce the risk of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), disease levels and grass weeds. Mid-October is still a very good time to plant winter barley, so don’t panic yet. Growers should still plant varieties which claim BYDV tolerance and resistance first to further reduce the risk of BYDV.

Grain prices

Dairygold has announced its grain prices and as co-ops announce grain prices, more buyers will follow suit, so settle up when possible and examine your figures from the season gone by to see what action needs to be taken – whether that be looking at finance options or making cropping changes on the farm to improve profits for next season.

Aid payment

The Minister for Agriculture announced an aid payment this week for the tillage sector. The payment is €28/ha (€11.33/ac) on oilseed rape, barley, wheat, oats and rye planted this season.

It looks like the payment will be paid out once these crops have been declared on the Basic Income Support for Sustainability application, but this has yet to be made clear.

Reaction to the payment so far is that tillage famers are extremely disappointed with the payment. Some asked this week was it a mistake, should there be a zero on the end of the 28? Others have called it an insult.

Maybe more funding will come, but if it is to come it needs to be announced soon.

ACRES

The deadline for six ACRES actions has been extended until 31 October. Farmers planting catch crops have until the end of October to complete the measure.

This is also the case for the establishment of grass margins beside archaeological monuments and the establishment of an annual cereal or catch crop for the Geese and Swans measure.

Farmers also have until 31 October to plant a catch crop under the environmental management of arable fallow measure, and to plant a riparian buffer zone beside a watercourse.