Pictures of the Moment

New Nitrates regulations will expect extra actions by tillage farmers from July 1 this year	Careful examination of pods is important to correctly time the desiccation of oilseed rape
The new blight forecast system by www.met.ie  will give a more accurate prediction of blight in your area	The Teagasc Harvest Estimates for Cereals 2022 estimate the total output at 2.3 million tonnes of grain, similar to 2021

Nitrate regulations - Green cover on Tillage Ground

The Government has recently published Ireland’s Fifth Nitrates Action Programme which contains specific measures to protect water from nutrient pollution arising from agricultural sources. One of the important changes concerning tillage farmers is green cover on tillage ground. 

High nitrate levels in rivers have been recorded by the EPA in predominantly tillage areas in the South East. While there are many sources of nitrate loss to ground water, surplus nitrogen int he soil after harvest (not used by growing crop) can contribute to nitrate loading in the water. Early sown catch crops and establishment of green cover (by stubble cultivation only) can help capture some of this nitrogen which could otherwise be leached to ground water by rainfall. Essentially tillage farmers are now required to take measures to establish green cover as soon as possible post harvest to protect groundwater from nitrate pollution.  

The regulation states that;

‘Shallow cultivation or sowing of a crop must take place within 7 days of baling of straw post harvest. Where straw is chopped shallow cultivation or sowing a crop must take place within 7 days of harvest. In all circumstances, shallow cultivation or sowing of a crop must take place within 14 days of harvesting. In certain weather conditions, the Minister, in discussion with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, may advise when this should not apply’.

Further to this an additional requirement of a 6 metre buffer zone is required along water bodies for late harvested crops i.e. Potatoes, Forage Maize and late harvested spring cereal crops.

It is recognised that some uncultivated cover must be retained through the winter period to support seed-eating birds and it is expected that this information and any other amendments will be available in early July. 

Note: the DAFM are actively looking at these measures to see if further clarity can be issued around the exact implementation in various tillage circumstances

Crop Areas and Harvest Estimates 

The Basic Payment application figures released by the Department of Agriculture and Marine show an overall increase of 6% in the main tillage areas compared to 2021. 

See the table below for the areas in hectares for each crop in 2021 and 2022.

Note - Extracted from gov.ie - Basic Payment Scheme - Crop Areas (www.gov.ie)

The past growing season have been very favourable to all crops.  Crops are full crops from hedge to hedge with no bare patches, are filling well thus have good potential.  Although soils are dry, with soil moisture deficits running from 30-40 mm, the recent rain should be sufficient to fill crops to their potential.   

Average yields are estimated to be above the 5 year average yields for all crops.  The only exception is winter barley which has thinned out in recent weeks and is not as promising as earlier int the year.  The total cereal output for 2022 is estimated to be similar to last year at a little over 2.3 million tonnes.

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