Big canopies on winter oilseed rape crops could see nitrogen applications cut by 100kg/ha, equating to €250/ha.

This will be among the topics being discussed at the first session of the Teagasc National Tillage Conference which takes place at 11:30am on Thursday 13 January. The second session of the conference will be on 27 January.

The focus of session one is, unsurprisingly, fertiliser. Richie Hackett will discuss adjusting nitrogen rates, while David Wall will talk about managing soil fertility and Dermot Forristal will examine the potential cost savings by spreading fertiliser accurately and planting break crops.

Online webinars

Teagasc will run a series of online webinars every Thursday at 11.30am from 13 January to 10 February as part of Tillage Thursdays.

Session two will examine cereal disease control in a reduced nutrient scenario, while also looking at BYDV and grassweed control.

The event will be part of a series of Tillage Thursdays, which will also see events run on 20 January (utilisation of nutrients) and 3 February (CAP 23) and 10 February (malting barley) at 11.30am each day.

Registration for the online webinars is available through the Teagasc website.