Fieldwork:

Rain has returned and conditions are not suitable for much fieldwork now. Although a nice bit of work was carried out in the past few weeks, from planting to spraying and even some ploughing, since the start of December. Unfortunately, crows are attacking many of these crops. Try to keep them at bay with bangers and frighteners, but this is easier said than done.

Planting:

For now, planting is probably best left until January and February to avoid damage from crows and for better conditions. It is important to try to keep planting winter cereals, to spread workload and meet three-crop rule requirements, but only where conditions allow and are suitable for planting. Another thing to remember is that if planted in January and February, these crops will be classified as spring crops. So, calculate how this will affect your three-crop rule requirements. It may benefit. Another thing Teagasc reminded us of this week is that if winter wheat is planted in January it goes down as spring wheat on your BISS application. This means that it has to be treated like a spring wheat crop for fertiliser calculations. Spring wheat has a lower fertiliser allowance, so farmers need to be careful not to over apply as this would lead to penalties to direct payments. Some farmers have not been able to move out to fields at all in the last few weeks and some have not managed to plant any winter crops, but planting in good conditions is so important.

Resowing:

Don’t panic yet on resowing crops. Resowing is a really drastic action and might not be the best option. We all know that sowing and establishment carries high costs, so you may not make that money back if you sow a new crop. Plant counts can be carried out in January and February and decisions can be made then, but take your time for now. Fallow may be a better option or where fields are patchy it may work out better to leave those patches in the field for this season. Teagasc has said that a winter wheat crop with 90 plants/m2 could achieve 80-90% of its potential yield.

Protein payment top up:

The Protein Payment was topped up by the Department of Agriculture last week. Following huge uptake, with an increase in the spring bean area of about 6,000ha, the payment was estimated to be a lot lower than first predicted. As a result, the Minister for Agriculture increased the budget from €7m to €10m. This means the payment for beans, peas, lupins and soya is €583/ha and the payment for a protein/cereal mix crop is €219/ha. Check your bank account and agfood.ie to make sure that you have been paid. Straw Incorporation Measure and Tillage Incentive Scheme payments are set to issue in the coming days.

Unharvested crops: I am hearing that a large number of applications to the unharvested crops scheme have not been compliant with requirements. Inspections have been carried out over the past few weeks. Make sure you have all in order to get your payment.