Arable April has kicked off and this year the Irish Farmers Journal has teamed up with the Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG) with the support of Seedtech for the initiative to showcase the very best of the tillage industry.

We want to see as many readers take part in Arable April by sending in pictures and showing us what’s happening on your farms over the course of the month.

If you’re sowing, spraying, spreading fertiliser or walking crops the Irish Farmers Journal would like to see a picture with a caption describing what’s happening.

We’ll be featuring farmers on our website over the course of the month, as well as posting readers’ pictures weekly in the paper.

Growers from across the country will be taking over the Irish Farmers Journal’s social media accounts.

Focus on sustainability

This year Arable April will have a theme – sustainability.

The arable industry is an important sector in the future of Irish agriculture. Its low greenhouse gas emissions, ability to sequester carbon from cover crops and store carbon in soil, as well as providing a local source of grain for the human food chain and the animal feed industry will be essential as we move forward.

This year we want to highlight the great work which the tillage industry does to contribute to sustainable agriculture.

So we want every reader to send us a picture and explain how it is contributing to the sustainability of your farm.

Have you chosen a variety with good resistance to septoria or a variety tolerant to barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV)?

Maybe you have direct-drilled your crops or are planting into land where the straw was chopped or a cover crop was planted.

Have you been paying particular attention to crop nutrition or applying a bio-stimulant?

If you’re trying to make your farm more sustainable, we want to hear about it.

Photo competition

This year Seedtech have come on board to support the campaign and have kindly sponsored a prize for the photo competition.

You can send your pictures via www.ifj.ie/arableapril and this will also allow you to enter the photo competition where you could win a Sencrop Raincrop connected rain gauge, as well as a year’s subscription to Sencrop’s mobile application.

We also want to see your tillage pictures on social media, so when you post your picture tag #ArableApril and tag us.

Farm safety

Remember to take farm safety into account when taking your pictures and adhere to COVID-19 guidelines with regards to social distancing.

Submit your photos