Grass weed control is costing some farmers in the UK €175/ha - before yield loss is counted.

Head of crops knowledge transfer at Teagasc Michael Hennessy opened the Teagasc grass weeds conference in Co Kildare on Wednesday with a yield report from a UK farmer who said that he lost 2t/ha on his winter wheat crop due to blackgrass last year.

Income was down further due to the cost of herbicides at €175/ha.

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Major problem

Hennessy explained that grass weeds are becoming a major problem on tillage farms in Ireland, from blackgrass and bromes to canary grass and ryegrass.

He commented that herbicide resistance is an issue, but explained that different farming systems have different weed burdens.

The conference marks the end of the Enable Conservation Tillage Project at Teagasc.

The conference will hear results of the project throughout the day from how establishment techniques affected weed pressure to how seed rates can help to smother weeds.

A large amount of data was collected throughout the five-year project, which began in 2019.

You can read more in the Irish Farmers Journal.

The conference is available to view online throughout the day (8 November).