Harvest moves to salvage mode

Broken disagreeable weather is proving disastrous for tillage farmers not yet finished harvesting. Large pockets of crops in specific regions remain to be harvested and these now face yield loss and quality deterioration. Crops are losing weight by the day as wet continues. And those with problems can be found anywhere from Kinsale to Killybegs or Rosslare to Raphoe. Potato and veg harvesting is being hit in some areas also.

While we are within the last 20% of harvest nationally, the situation is now approaching disastrous in remaining problem areas. Some of these areas have very little cutting done and thousands of acres remain to be cut.

Most counties have some tail on the harvest, some towards the north have big areas only ripe now, but there are huge areas of over-ripe crops remaining in parts of south and east Cork, south Wexford and up into the north and north west, where the situation is critical.

Over-ripe crops are now breaking down and sprouting is evident in both wheat and barley. There has been relatively little cutting done since the start of the month. Straw lies unbaled on many more thousands of acres, and some is hardly worth baling at this point.

Many bean crops are also now ready for harvest and there is a danger of sprouting here also. Stem breakage is common in places and this could also leave more pods under blade height to cause losses. Over-ripe spring rape crops are now starting to shed, which means yield loss.

Nick Dunican farms in south Cork but he feels that he is relatively lucky on two fronts. He only has 33 acres left to harvest, of which 14 acres of Mickle spring barley has taken a hell of a beating from the bad weather. And his Quintus spring wheat, which looked really promising, is now as black as coal and sprouting. Nick also has some spring beans to cut.

The second reason he feels lucky is that he decided to opt out of conacre rental a few years ago, due to lack of income. Many of the larger growers in his area south and west of Cork still have hundreds of acres to cut and only a few smaller growers are finished.

They face a disastrous outcome from remaining crops. Little or no straw has been baled in recent weeks and what’s on the ground has become completely discoloured and hardly worth baling for the important west Cork market.

Martin Foley farms in south Wexford. On Sunday morning last he had almost 40% of his area to harvest, but he made the decision that his crops will not make quality markets and he views the remainder of the harvest as a salvage operation.

On Sunday he took out 78 acres, barley and some spring wheat, all of which yielded reasonably well but at high moisture. He got access to four combines to do this in the short day. But he was happy just to get the crops off the fields. He still has malting barley, spring wheat and beans to cut.

In Donegal Liam Robb is relatively advanced compared with many of his neighbours. But Liam reckons there is not one-third of the spring barley in his region harvested yet. Yields remain reasonable but straw is now breaking down and losses are inevitable. While harvesting opportunities are scarce, trafficability is also a huge concern.

Co Roscommon tillage farmer Mervyn Auchmuty told the Irish Farmers Journal conditions are “horrific” in his area. “Ground conditions are saturated and you can’t work. Some fields are okay to travel but crops are flattened from all the rain. It’s now a race against the clock.”

This week IFA’s Joe Healy called on Minister Creed to establish a national tillage forum to consider sensible options for this beleaguered sector.