The Tillage Edge

Eoin Lyons, in Kilkenny, is using a direct drill system to establish his crops every year and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, he chats to Michael Hennessy about the lessons learned over the years using the direct drill establishment system and how his soils are changing over time.   Eoin said that despite his plans to establish everything in the autumn, he soon realised a good rotation incorp...

For this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy visited Michael Grace’s farm in Clane, Co Kildare to chat about the strip-till establishment system on the farm.     Michael Grace explains that yields are as good as any of his neighbours and he is very happy with the system.  In order to use strip-till successfully he emphasises that it is critical to have a good rotation and also to only wo...

The poor spring weather was a key topic on the latest Tillage Edge podcast when Michael Hennessy chatted to both Don Somers, a farmer from Wexford, who is also participating in the Signpost Programme, and John Mahon, his Tillage Signpost advisor.      Don said he was forced to make major changes to his cropping plans this spring.  Although these changes could affect the rotation on the farm over t...

Weed control is as important as ever in spring cereals and Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan, both Tillage specialists in Teagasc, along with Vijaya Bhaskar, a weed researcher in Teagasc, are on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to chat about the best strategies for weed control in spring cereals.     Shay explains that good control is possible with lower rates but the weeds must be small and the herb...

With a substantial amount of BISS applications still to be submitted, there is growing pressure on all advisors to ensure farmer consultations are efficient so that all applications can be completed on time.     John Brophy, a Teagasc Advisor in Naas, is on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to chat through the major areas where a farmer can complete some pre-work before visiting their advisor.   Jo...

Late planted spring crops are at a higher risk of BYDV infection this year, as Dr. Louise McNamara, an entomologist in Oak Park Teagasc, explains on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast.   To reduce this risk, she says, target an aphicide application at growth stage 14.   Aphid numbers are coming off a low base after the winter and aphids need 170 degree days for population numbers to double.  A well...

Planting of spring crops continues at pace but there is still a substantial amount of planting to be completed especially in the north east of the country.     Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan, both Tillage Specialists in Teagasc, join Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast with pointers as to where crops are not planted yet and also actions needed in winter crops.    Both specialists e...

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Irishman Jim McCarthy, who manages a large tract of land in northern Romania, talks to Michael Hennessy about spring plantings, costs of inputs, machinery capacity and why many countries have banned the imports of Ukrainian grain.     Jim says that due to recent rainfall, the farm is behind in the planting of 12,000 hectares of spring crops, though the recent w...

All tillage farmers have a long list of crop management tasks which needs to be completed as soon as possible and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan, both Tillage Specialists in Teagasc, chat through the critical tasks which need addressing on tillage farms.     Both specialists emphasise the variation in crops’ growth and the need for farmers to walk their crops r...

Andy Mahon, a Dubliner and farm manager of a large farm in the UK, joins Michael Hennessy on the latest Tillage Edge podcast to talk about the UK’s agriculture policy and the frustration it is causing to all farmers.     Andy explains how the UK policy is centred on environmental policy rather than food production.    Furthermore, the income supports provided by the Basic Payment schemes have halv...

In the final episode of the four-part series on the potential of protein crops, this week’s Tillage Edge podcast looks at how a new European project Valpro Path can help develop new supply chains for protein crops.     Professor Milena Corredig, Head of Food Design, Aarhus University, Denmark, explains how the societal shift to plant proteins is growing with consumers now looking for simple and su...

All tillage farmers can make small changes to reduce the farms environmental impact and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Darren Allen, a farmer from Ballymaloe Farm, Co. Cork, talks about the steps he has taken over the past few years to improve his farm’s efficiency and also improving the environmental credentials on the farm.      He explains how the farm’s rotation has adjusted to improve y...

The switch to urea on tillage farms comes with the added risk of uneven spreading and on the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Francis Quigley, a Machinery Specialist in Teagasc, discusses fertiliser spreader settings for urea.     Francis says that many spreaders require a specific vein for urea and he has come across spreaders with badly damaged veins which were not capable of spreading any fertilise...

In the third part of a four part series looking at protein crops, on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast we examine if Irish protein crops can be transformed to supply the plant based protein market.     Mark Fenelon from Teagasc, is the project leader of U Protein which is looking at concentrating the protein content of plant materials to make food ingredient products.     Mark explains how the proj...

The Eco Scheme is part of the new CAP 2023-2027 and will make up a significant part of farmers payments this year and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Shay Phelan, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, outlines the eight measures which farmers can choose from in 2023.   Shay explains there are about three Eco Scheme measures which are particularly suitable for tillage farmers.     He says the Space...

In the second part of our four part series looking at protein crops, the Tillage Edge podcast catches up with members of the National Protein Stakeholder Group to discuss the ambitions and goals of the group.     Mick Fawle, from Charles R Wynnes, a merchant in the south east, explains how the company helps to grow, purchase and use these proteins in mainstream and niche feed rations.    Mick also...

The cost of nitrogen is stubbornly high but the cost differential between CAN and urea can be exploited to cut costs this year on tillage farms.     Dr. Richie Hackett from Teagasc joins The Tillage Edge podcast this week to chat about how to grow high yielding crops from urea whilst reducing the costs of production.   Richie highlights that a farmer using urea as the main nitrogen source on 40 he...

As the soils dry out, farmers are beginning to venture into fields to plough, plant and in some cases fertilise crops.     Ciaran Collins and Shay Phelan, both Teagasc Tillage Specialists, join Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss winter crops and the agronomic actions which are needed in the coming weeks.   Shay said planning is critical to get the best outcome and this...

This is the first of four episodes looking at protein production in Ireland and how it can be developed over the next number of years.     In Part 1 of the series, Michael Hennessy chats to Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, about the profitability of beans in 2023 and how to grow a high yielding crop.   Ciaran told the podcast he expects beans to be twice as profitable as spring bar...

This is this final episode of four for The Tillage Edge’s special soil series and this week we return to Professor Mike McLaughlin, from the University of Adelaide, to chat about soil health and how soils can be improved.     Mike discusses how to measure soil health and how useful this measure is.  Mike points to American research by the Soil Health Institute which narrowed down the parameters to...

This is the third episode of four for The Tillage Edge’s special soil series and this week, Dr Karen Daly, a soil scientist from Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy to chat about the types of soil test used to measure critical nutrients and the tests most suitable to Irish conditions.     Karen explains that there are many types of soil tests but the Morgan’s test is the most suitable to Irish conditi...

The second part of The Tillage Edge’s special soil series sees Professor Mike McLaughlin continue his in-depth look at soil and its functionality with nutrients.   Prof. McLaughlin discusses potash and how it can interact with soils and plants, and he also talks about nutrient uptake through the leaves, the efficiency of this process, but also the drawbacks.  Mike, originally from Antrim, has work...

Soils are the most important resource the human race has.  Without a productive soil there wouldn’t be any farming or food production.  Understanding the core functionality of soil is fundamental to a management strategy for a long term productive soil.       Over the next four episodes on the Tillage Edge in January, we will explore the fundamentals of soils in terms of make-up and chemistry, how...

With the year coming to an end,  you may be reflecting on the good and bad points of 2022, trying to remember the areas where improvement on your farm is needed.     Recording your farm operation, whether it’s fertiliser, pesticides or other inputs, is critical to determining the margin per field or crops.     If you are not able to do this then it will be difficult to put in place the correct mea...

As the year draws to a close, the Teagasc outlook is predicting tillage income to halve in 2023 in comparison to 2022 with many farms close to a break-even scenario.     Farmers need to manage their risks carefully next year and to discuss this, tillage specialists, Ciarán Collins and Shay Phelan, join Michael Hennessy to look ahead to the new CAP, the Nitrates Directive and how best to balance hi...