Weather: The heavy rain at the end of last week was not expected to be so bad by many, but it did not halt work for long with good drying out, until Tuesday. There are plenty of showers around, keep an eye on the forecast so you are not ploughing before rain which could stop planting. There is rain forecast for next week. Keep an eye on thousand grain weights and seeding rates. Get out a pre-emergence herbicide where you can.

Home-saved seed: There seems to be more home-saved seed use recently. If you are home-saving you need to be sure the grain is your own, is good quality and a germination test is essential. The Department of Agriculture do these tests, but there is usually a wait. Email seedtesting@agriculture.gov.ie or phone (01) 6157518 for more information. Remember it is illegal to purchase farm-saved seed. You cannot buy grain from another farmer and plant it on your farm. You can keep your own grain to sow as seed. Royalties must be paid in this case, but you cannot sell this seed. A simple thing to help when buying seed is that certified seed will have a Department of Agriculture label on it, no matter what standard it is. You should keep seed labels for inspections during the year. IGAS will ask for these labels and they will also provide proof of purchase of certified seed.

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Crop diversification: A reminder that crop diversification is still in place. You must grow at least three crops if you have 30ha or more of tillage and at least two crops if you have 10-30ha of tillage. In each case the biggest crop cannot take up more than 75% of the tillage area. If you have over 30ha, the biggest two crops cannot take up more than 95% of the area. If you have signed up for equivalence then you can ignore these requirements and plant half of the arable area in catch crops by September 15 each year, but you need to be signed up to this.

Fertiliser database: Next Wednesday, 15 October, is the last day to fill out stocks for the fertiliser database online. Make sure you have all your information on nutrient percentages and makes. If you have fertiliser left over and don’t put it in the database you could face penalties and also if too much fertiliser was used on the farm if you haven’t enough fertiliser left over at the end of year, having bought too much or if you had been carrying stock from one year to the next.

Hazardous waste: There are more Hazardous Waste collections taking place at Gowran Park Racecourse on Wednesday, 14 October and at Punchestown Racecourse, Co Kildare on Wednesday, 21 October from 9am to 5pm. You can bring old pesticides and should bring pesticides with expired PCS numbers, check your Crop Protection Magazine if you are unsure. You can also bring veterinary medicines, waste paint, waste oil, oil filters, drums, brake fluid, grease and many other products. Look up the Department’s website for more details on costs and products. You can email pesticideregisters@agriculture.gov.ie or phone (01) 6157552.