The Tillage Edge

In the final podcast for 2021, The Tillage Edge looks forward to 2022 with Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, both Tillage Specialists in Teagasc. They discuss the major challenges facing farmers such as high fertiliser prices and the new CAP. There is a lot to play for in tillage in 2022 and due to the higher costs, especially with fertilisers, many are commenting that growing cereals this year is a...

Andy Mahon, an Irish man and farm manager of a large farm in the UK, returns to the Tillage Edge this week to discuss with Michael Hennessy how his season went from June to December this year. Andy reported exceptional yields (11t/ha) from his winter wheats in 2021 (on a direct drill system) but was disappointed with the spring wheat. Andy described the harvest as ‘the wettest dry weather’ they ha...

Tom Tierney, a farmer in North Kildare, who converted to a direct drill system six years ago, and Ivan Whitten, his Teagasc advisor, join Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss Tom’s farming system and how sustainability is at the core of all his decisions. Teagasc have set up a network of farms, under the Signpost Farm banner, to help demonstrate sustainable practices and...

2021 will be remembered by most people as an excellent year for tillage farmers. However the year wasn’t without its ups and downs in terms of weather and other events and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy looks back on 2021 with Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, tillage specialists in Teagasc, to hear how it treated tillage farmers. Ciaran first highlighted the issues around the...

Jim McCarthy, a farmer from Kildare, joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to talk about his farming business in Romania. The company that Jim manages is farming close to 20,000 hectares, employs over 150 staff and ships all of the grain grown through the Black Sea port in Constanta. Jim gives a fascinating insight into the farming business which grows a wide range of crops in...

Dermot Forristal, Oak Park, Teagasc joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss getting machines ready for the winter. Dermot focuses on protecting sprayers from frost and says that any heavy frost can cause damage but the most damaging time tends to be a sustained period of frosty weather over a week or so. Dermot recommends larger sprayers would need 10-15L of concentra...

John Crowley, a tillage farmer in Wexford, has been working closely with Teagasc to improve his profitability in the past few years as part of the Teagasc/Boortmalt Joint Programme and he joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast. John is also interested in reducing his GHG emission on the farm in areas such as cover crops and straw incorporation, as well as hedgerow/forestry mana...

Fertiliser prices continue to rise putting pressure on crop margins for 2022. Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins, Teagasc Tillage Specialists, join Michael Hennessy on this week's Tillage Edge podcast with practical ways to reduce your farm's dependence on chemical fertilisers and also how to make the most of every kilogram purchased. Shay explains how a grower applying good quality cattle slurry (3,0...

Oilseed rape crops have powered ahead this year and most crops are in great shape for the winter. Plantings of oilseed rape are up by 30% and forward prices are up by nearly 50%. But, disease control is important in all crops to ensure full yields are realised and Dr. Stephen Kildea, from Teagasc, joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss disease and growth regulation...

Aphids are BYDV vectors and controlling aphid spread in cereals is important and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Louise McNamara, from Oak Park, joined Michael Hennessy to discuss aphids and the threat of BYDV for Autumn 2021. The first step towards controlling aphid spread is to delay the date of planting which reduces the length of time the crop is exposed to high aphid numbers. Louise e...

The Tillage TAMS scheme is designed to help tillage farmers modernise whilst addressing challenges like reducing pesticides and increasing farm safety and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy was joined by Oliver Molloy from the Department of Agriculture, to chat through the ins and outs of a farmer applying for a grant. Firstly, Oliver explained that there are over 2,000 applican...

The majority of seed sown on tillage farms every year is Department of Agriculture certified seed and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, it’s part two of the seed story that tracks the seeds journey from the seed growers field through the seed assembler to the final customer. Gerry Lohan, from the Seed Inspection Division of the Department of Agriculture, outlines the checks made by inspectors a...

The majority of seed sown on tillage farms every year is Department of Agriculture certified seed and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, it is the first in a two-part series that tracks the seed’s journey from breeder through an Irish seed assembler, taking in the seed grower along the way. Donal Fitzgerald, Goldcrop joins Michael Hennessy to chat about the process of assembling seed and outline...

Weed control is one of the first jobs that needs to be completed after a crop has been planted with a number of options available and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, tillage specialists Shay Phelan and Ciaran Collins join Michael Hennessy to discuss this topic in more detail. Weed control options can be divided into pre or post emergence of the crop and Shay explains that pre emergence has ma...

Day 2 of the National Crops Forum delved into carbon farming and nitrate leaching on tillage farms and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, you’ll hear from the excellent questions and answers sessions from the forum. Dr Gary Lanigan from Teagasc told the forum that even though the corporate world is very interested in sustainability and carbon capture it remains to be seen who will pay farmers fo...

Day 1 of the National Crops Forum highlighted important information on varieties, septoria and grain markets which is worth listening to if you missed it the first time around. The new varieties of winter barley, wheat and oats were discussed, as well as the influence of sowing dates on septoria control for the season with John Joe Byrne from the Department of Agriculture and Teagasc’s Stephen Kil...

Hedgerows are a very important resource within our landscape but over-management is an issue on tillage farms according to Dr Catherine Keena, a Countryside Management Specialist in Teagasc who joins Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast. Catherine encourages farmers to leave some of the hedgerows unmanaged each year to let plants flower which is good for pollinators, and the result...

Headlands occupy a significant proportion of fields, particularly in an Irish context – for example, a 24 metre headland makes up 50% of the total area on a 4 hectare field. Meanwhile, the increasing size and weight of machinery is a threat to soil structure and its ability to produce crops efficiently is a concern. On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Mark Ward joined Michael Hennessy to discu...

On this week’s Tillage Edge Podcast Shay Phelan talks to soil specialist Mark Plunkett about the impact of the rising cost of fertilisers on tillage farms. This increase in prices has led to a renewed interest in the use of organic manures on tillage farms. Mark discusses the value and costs of the different manures available, the practicalities of using them and the crops most likely to benefit t...

On this week’s Tillage Edge Podcast Shay Phelan talks to three advisors around the country for latest on the harvest. Broken weather over the last few weeks has slowed down the progress of the harvest so Shay spoke to Conor Kavanagh in Tipperary, Ciaran Hickey in Enniscorthy and John Brophy in Louth to get a view from their areas. While the harvest has been a stop-start affair so far, some of the...

Cover crops can be useful for many different functions in a field but some farmers see them as an inconvenience both to plant and to manage before the next crop. Richie Hackett, a researcher in Teagasc, Oak Park, Carlow, has been working with cover crops for over 10 years and joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to go through some of his findings - especially the advantages...

Many growers are switching between harvesting and planting this month to get their winter oilseed rape planted and on this week’s Tillage Edge, Ciaran Collins, a Tillage Specialist in Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy to give an insight into the advantages of getting the crop planted in August rather than September. Ciaran points to the increased growth, giving the plant more resilience against pest...

Close to 2,000 farmers signed up to incorporate some or all of their straw this year and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dermot Forristal joins Michael Hennessy to chat through the main factors to take into consideration when incorporating straw. Dermot explains that depth of incorporation can be quite flexible from 5cm up to 10 cm with good soil to straw contact heeling with a more rapid bre...

The potential of combines or indeed other machinery to spread weeds is now a serious concern for most farmers as grass weeds such as blackgrass, canary grass and wild oats can be easily spread and this is more worrying when these weeds may be herbicide resistant. Dermot Forristal and Brendan Bourke joined Michael Hennessy on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast to discuss machinery hygiene at harvest....

On this week’s episode of the Tillage Edge podcast, Shay Phelan catches up with Tim Bergin who is a Dublin farmer now farming near Slupsk in North West Poland. Tim spoke to the Tillage Edge earlier in the year but Shay got an update on the season so far on his farm and the prospects for the harvest not only in Poland but all across Europe. Tim also spoke about the impact of drought on his potato c...