Importing straw from England a 'very dangerous practice'

The thought of importing straw from England to Ireland put shivers down a UK grass weed researcher's spine and was described as a “very dangerous practice”.

John Cussans, a weed scientist with the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS) in England, was speaking on Ear To The Ground last Thursday, describing how serious a problem the weed can be on farms and how it is placing serious financial strain on farmers.

“Straw is an absolute curse,” he said, while adding that there is no certification process for that straw and farmers are “not protected in any way” when importing straw from farms with high levels of blackgrass.

“The fact that Irish farmers are importing straw, there’s a red light flashing in my head a little bit. I think that’s a very dangerous practice,” he said.

Blackgrass is a major problem in England and is now almost a normal part of arable farming in the country; whereas in Ireland, while blackgrass is in every county, it is not widespread across farms.

Tipping point

John commented that in 1982 they started to see glimmers of blackgrass issues in England. Those problems reached a tipping point in 2012 and now he said: “Now we’ve got a really wholescale problem in terms of efficacy of herbicides.”

John explained that, in the past, the weed was not associated with the financial pressures that the industry is under now so the challenge is greater.

“To date, it's been much more about growing crops that [farmers] know are going to lose them money, but help them manage the weed in the long term.”

However, as resistance to herbicides builds, John explained that it is becoming more difficult to control: “It’s been a real story of progressive erosion of options for weed control in a crop.”

Straw imports

In recent years, straw imports from England to Ireland appear to have increased. These imports pose a threat to Irish farms in transport, as debris blows from a load along roads and into fields, and then on the farm they are in use and the field that receives the farmyard manure.

We do not have a shortage of Irish straw. Some farmers blame the Straw Incorporation Measure for the importation of straw, but if there were orders for that straw it would not be chopped.

One blackgrass plant can produce 6,000 seeds, so if one seed from a load of straw from England blows from a lorry and germinates in a farmer’s field, they could immediately have a blackgrass problem.

Click here for advice on controlling blackgrass.