Last week, we visited Kildare Tramline farmer Andrew Begin whose spring sowing campaign was well under way. Like many farmers, the rush was on to get crops planted before the weather broke last week. Sowing began for Andrew at the end of February but came to an abrupt stop when the weather broke in March. He’s now on top of spring barley and pea planting.
Last week, we visited Kildare Tramline farmer Andrew Begin whose spring sowing campaign was well under way. Like many farmers, the rush was on to get crops planted before the weather broke last week.
Sowing began for Andrew at the end of February but came to an abrupt stop when the weather broke in March. He’s now on top of spring barley and pea planting.
He’s one of a handful of growers growing canning peas for Valeo in Ireland. This year’s, he’s growing the variety Venture, which was sown at 150 kg/ha.
The crop was sown in perfect conditions and rolled soon after before receiving a pre-emerge herbicide application consisting of Stomp Aqua.
The Danú project
Andrew is also involved with the Danú project, which is an EIP-funded five-year project. Across 12 farms over five years, the project will look at the transition from a traditional system of farming to a biological-focused system.
So far, the project has focused on setting a number of baseline measurements such as soil minerals, biological assets, soil fertility and many more. There will then be four treatments carried out across four trial plots over the course of the five years where these baseline measurements will be monitored.
Listen to the interview with Andrew below
Read more
Watch: spring sowing in full swing in Galway
Listen: the spring bean debate – to grow or not to grow?
Watch: sowing malting barley in ideal conditions in Wexford
Watch: spreading N on winter barley in Laois
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