Lodged Crops May Cause Harvest Losses - Teagasc

Mr. Jim O’Mahony, Teagasc Programme Manager for tillage crops speaking at the release of the final pre-harvest Teagasc Tillage Crop Report 2005 today (Friday 29th July 2005) said that cereal production is projected to return to the normal 2 million tonnes this year. This is back 0.5 million tonnes on last year’s record harvest.

On cereal areas Mr. O’Mahony said that the overall area under cereals is estimated at 265,000 ha. The wheat area is estimated to be 92,000 ha. This is a fall of 10% against last season’s figure. The acreage sown to barley is down by approximately 14% to 158,000 ha.

However, the Teagasc tillage expert cautioned that due to last years record crop both free and intervention stocks of native grain have been carried over into this season, while usage figures of cereals in feed are expected to be at last year’s levels.

Referring to this years harvest Jim O’Mahony said that “Lodging problems in spring barley caused by the exceptionally heavy rainfall, up 70 mm, on Saturday night in Southern coastal counties may result in harvest losses”. He said “Teagasc advise growers that the use of glyphosate pre-harvest in these crops will facilitate timely harvesting. This will be particularly useful where crops are uneven and where weeds are present. Lodged crops will need protection from birds until harvest”.

On alternative crops the tillage specialist said that growers and the agricultural trade are showing a keen interest in alternative crops and oil seed rape in particular. Oil seed rape can be grown for oil for use in the catering trade, margarine or for biofuel as in biodiesel. Some winter oil seed rape is already harvested in the last week and has yielded satisfactorily at over 4.0 t/ha. The crop is a useful break crop increasing the yield of the following winter wheat by about 1.5 t/ha. Profit margins are similar to winter wheat where satisfactory yields and a price of €240/t is achieved.

He advises growers intending to grow oil seed rape, particularly for the first time, to contact their local Teagasc tillage adviser.

Ends

Issued by Larry O’Loughlin,

A/Head, Public Relations Department, Teagasc, Carlow

Tel: 059 9183408; 087 2562434;

Email: loloughlin@hq.teagasc.ie