The increasing break crop area available to Irish tillage farmers this autumn should act to boost grain yields in 2024.
This was one of the key messages delivered by Seedtech’s Tim O’Donovan at the company’s variety trials event, held in Co. Waterford this week.
“We have seen a significant increase in the areas of spring beans, winter oilseed rape and maize in 2023,” O’Donovan said.
“It is estimated that this break crop area available to grow first cereals, has increased by around 15,000ha in 2023 compared to 2022.
“In turn, this is providing cereal growers with the opportunity to come in with a first wheat or a very productive winter barley option this autumn.”
Barleys
O’Donovan went on to specifically highlight the benefits of drilling new, high-yielding barley options when starting a new crop rotation.
“There is now a proven range of conventional two-row, six-row, hybrid and barley yellow dwarf virus tolerant winter barley varieties available to Irish cereal growers.
“All have very high yielding potential. But more than this, when taken as a group they provide more than a month-long planting window option for growers during the September-October period.
“Hybrid barleys are particularly suited to follow break crops because of the additional yield potential that they offer, and this is proven over many years in the independent trials conducted across Ireland by the Department of Agriculture,” the Seedtech representative added.
Sustainability in tillage
According to O’Donovan, the increase in the spring bean, maize and winter oilseed rape area of recent years has brought the Irish break crop acreage close to what it was when sugar beet was a viable option.
“Seedtech is looking at the overall sustainability of tillage farms in Ireland. This principle can be distilled down to three factors – people, profit and the environment,” O’Donovan said.
“In our case, we are producing varieties that are more sustainable. They will also deliver more profit while also keeping people in the industry. This latter point is crucially important.
“The Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, has asked the tillage industry to come up with solutions. The new vision group [Food Vision Tillage Group], of which the Irish Seed Trade feeds into, has been asked to take on this work,” he added.
O’Donovan went on to confirm the role that plant breeding will play in this context. He highlighted the challenge of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) as a case in point.
“At Seedtech all three categories of seed barley now come with a BYDV tolerance varietal option,” he commented.
“We also have turnip virus yellow tolerance in oilseed rape. In addition, we have excellent genetics coming through in new oilseed rape varieties. All of this will help secure the crop for the future.”
Seedtech drilling guide
O’Donovan drew particular attention to the drilling guide, contained in the recently published Seedtech variety guide for 2023/2024.
“It sets out a timetable, which allows growers to drill specific crops on a weekly basis over a 14- to 15-week autumn planting season,” he explained.
“The fact that October of 2022 was so wet has highlighted the importance of growers having crop options that can be drilled from August, such as oilseed rape, right through to November with winter oats.
“With this in mind, the planting season could be kick-started with oilseed rape, followed by hybrid rye and then a BYDV-tolerant barley.”
He explained that this means a significant proportion of the area available for autumn planting can be drilled before the weather deteriorates.
“The drilling guide has seeding rates and varietal choices. But it will also confirm the optimal sowing dates for various barley varieties, based on our experience here in Waterford,” he stated.
Food Vision Tillage Group
O’Donovan is confident that the Food Vision Tillage Group can come forward with recommendations that will deliver an expanded crops sector in Ireland.
“The group is made up of extremely experienced people from right across the tillage sector,” he continued.
“I am very confident that under the stewardship of its chairman, Matt Dempsey, sensible and long-term recommendations will be brought forward that allow all of our agricultural sectors to thrive.
“This is the key point – the tillage vision group is seeking to find ways in which the crops sector can knit-in with the likes of the pig, poultry, cattle and dairy industries. All of these sectors must thrive together; if everybody doesn’t win, nobody wins,” he added.
Faithlegg
By common consent, the trials site at Faithlegg looked an absolute picture this week. The man responsible for making all of this happen was Seedtech farm manager, Denis Dunne.
“The land that we have access to is free-draining and of an excellent quality. It allows us to trial 1,000 crop varieties across 3,000 plots,” Dunne explained.
“Many of these plots are used to screen the initial potential of new varieties.
“After one growing season, we can take a judgement call on whether a new variety is worthy of further investigation here at Faithlegg. Most don’t make it beyond the screening process.
“Those that do are further assessed here at Faithlegg with the best submitted for inclusion within the national recommended list trials that are undertaken by the Department of Agriculture,” he said.
Dunne said that they grow 17 different crop species including cereals, oilseeds, maize, legumes and pulses. Speciality crops, such as spelt and linseed also feature.
2023 cereal harvest
According to Denis Dunne, the earliest of this year’s winter barley plots will be ready for the combine within the next 7-10 days.
“Joyau will probably be the earliest barley variety to ripen this year. It is a six-row option with BYDV tolerance. Joyau grows well under Irish conditions,” he said.
“All our oilseed rape plots are looking well this year. This reflects the fact that they were drilled into excellent seed beds last September.”
Reflecting on the past growing season, Dunne confirmed that all the trial plots were planted out despite the very poor weather conditions of last October.
“This is a key advantage of having a trials site that is very suited to the growing of arable crops,” he said.
“The very wet weather that impacted across the country throughout the entire month of March provided a further challenge when it came to the drilling of our spring crops. But, again, we got the job completed as soon as ground and weather conditions permitted.”
The extremes of weather encountered throughout the 2023/2024 growing seasons threw up a number of crop disease-related issues for Denis Dunne and his team.
“Heavy infestations of septoria impacted on the lower leaves of our winter wheat plots earlier in the spring,” Dunne commented.
“This was a direct consequence of the heavy rains that fell during March and the fact that deteriorating ground conditions prevented us from applying fungicides at the time.
Hybrid rye
Hybrid rye was specifically highlighted at the Seedtech event as a winter cereal crop with significant potential for the future under Irish conditions.
It is estimated that 3,500ha of rye were grown in Ireland last year. The cereal has a number of unique characteristics that make it a very useful cropping option on tillage farms.
First off, it can tolerate take-all and BYDV, allowing it to be drilled form mid-September onwards.
Secondly, rye is very winter hardy, drought resistant and can out-yield other cereals in low fertility situations.
Finally, rye appears to be relatively unaffected by wet weather diseases, such as septoria. It is also very harvest stable – rye is quite sprouting-resistant when compared to other grain crops.
The markets for rye are developing. But the grain is already well known to animal nutritionists as it widely fed to pigs in Germany and Denmark.
However, growers are advised to secure an end market before committing to the crop.
Whole crop rye is an excellent forage source for ruminants with starch levels on a par with those found in the maize.
Seed quality
Seedtech prides itself in making top quality seed consistently available to Irish grain growers.
The man responsible for making this happen is production manager Daniel Norris. He is working with growers while also coordinating all of the steps that led to the final placement of certified seed into a bag.
“We work closely with up to 90 growers around the country, producing up to 4,500t of seed annually,” Norris explained.
“Seedtech currently has opportunities for contract growers with suitable, clean land who are committed to delivering the highest quality seed.
“This is particularly the case where oilseed rape is concerned.”
Norris defined suitable ground for seed production as land without blackgrass, wild oats, brome and canary grass.
“More often than not, ley ground meets this requirement,” he added.
“For oilseed rape at the moment, we are working with growers from east Cork to Co. Westmeath and then back into Wexford.”