In pictures: September ends but the harvest goes on

Tillage farmers continue to battle the weather and diminishing crops as they try to bring Harvest 2016 to a close.

Pat O'Toole

28 September 2016

In pictures: September ends but the harvest goes on

David O' Brien, Ardfield, Co. Cork checks the condition of a field of spring oats that he has yet to cut. David has 90 acres of barley and oats, of which he still has 40 acres to cut. The harvest would normally be finished by the second week of September but this year it is turning into a disaster with thousands of acres still to be cut in south and south west Cork with crops sprouting, heads gone to ground, oats sheding grains and no spring straw baled. Photo: Donal O' Leary

An example of spring oats sprouting in the field owned by David O' Brien, Ardfield, Co. Cork. David has 90 acres of barley and oats, of which he still has 40 acres to cut. The harvest would normally be finished by the second week of September but this year it is turning into a disaster with thousands of acres still to be cut in south and south west Cork with crops sprouting, heads gone to ground, oats sheding grains and no spring straw baled. Photo: Donal O' Leary

An example of spring oats sheding grains in the field owned by David O' Brien, Ardfield, Co. Cork. David has 90 acres of barley and oats, of which he still has 40 acres to cut. The harvest would normally be finished by the second week of September but this year it is turning into a disaster with thousands of acres still to be cut in south and south west Cork with crops sprouting, heads gone to ground, oats sheding grains and no spring straw baled. Photo: Donal O' Leary

David O' Brien's combine lies idle in a field of spring oats at Ardfield, Co. Cork that has yet to be cut due to adverse weather conditions over the last month. David has 90 acres of barley and oats, of which he still has 40 acres to cut. The harvest would normally be finished by the second week of September but this year it is turning into a disaster with thousands of acres still to be cut in south and south west Cork with crops sprouting, heads gone to ground, oats sheding grains and no spring

David O' Brien, Ardfield, Co. Cork. David has 90 acres of barley and oats, of which he still has 40 acres to cut. The harvest would normally be finished by the second week of September but this year it is turning into a disaster with thousands of acres still to be cut in south and south west Cork with crops sprouting, heads gone to ground, oats sheding grains and no spring straw baled. Photo: Donal O' Leary

At least 4,000ha of corn remains to be cut, as the end of September brings no end to the marathon, disastrous, harvest of 2016. According to Teagasc’s Kieran Collins, about 2,000ha of crop was still to be harvested in Cork as of Wednesday, with limited windows to make progress. The news is no better up the country, with over 40% of the spring barley crop unharvested in Donegal, and little cutting achieved across the west. Corn is now flat on the ground, and what has been cut is mostly at high moisture levels. The extension to sow catch crops for GLAS and greening expires on Friday (30 September), but there has been limited progress in this work either.