Tillage crops are looking well and yields are likely to be good, according to head of the crop research department at Teagasc Ewen Mullins.

“Where growers have got out at the right time with the recommended fungicide mixes, crops look good,” he said at the Crops and Spreaders Open Day in Oak Park. “In particular, growers got a weather opportunity to protect flag leaves. Control plots here at Oak Park, which have not been sprayed, have high disease levels. Some barley plots have been destroyed by ramularia."

A key take-home message for farmers was that they face a big challenge in the next few seasons coping with the loss of the chlorothalonil fungicide – which goes off the shelf in May 2020 – and key aphicides, he said.

“Teagasc has calculated that loss of chlorothalonil will cut wheat and barley margins by up to 50%."

The latest research on alternative ways of controlling foliar disease was on display at the open day. “The message is that growers will have to adjust their whole crop rotation and use an integrated pest management approach to cope with these challenges,” Mullins said.