Crop records

Now is a good time to catch up on crop records. Go back over spray records and make sure you have all the products, rates, PCS numbers, reasons for use and dates, and growth stages of application recorded. You will also need fertiliser products, rates and timings of application.

You should have integrated pest management strategies recorded too, as well as seed records and dressings. Keep labels from any seed that you used. The Crop Protection Magazine from the Irish Farmers Journal should have a lot of the information you need. Make sure to keep labels from cover crop seed for ACRES and the Farming for Water Programme in case of an inspection.

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Wild oats resistance

On this week’s tillage pages we have an update from Teagasc on herbicide resistance in wild oats. It is an increasing issue and I have recently heard from the trade that Axial is the most used spring herbicide in Ireland. It is used by so many people to control wild oats and other grasses like Italian ryegrass and canary grass, that it is coming under pressure from use.

As it is being used in the same fields over and over again, resistance can build up which will cause a serious problem. Using break crops to provide an alternative herbicide to control wild oats can stop the selection pressure, as well as using a product like Manhattan (Broadway Star) in winter wheat – but if you have canary grass you are limited in options.

CBAM

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is due to come in on 1 January 2026, despite calls for a postponement. It is not yet fully known how much this tax will increase fertiliser prices by, but it will increase them and continue to increase those prices until 2034. Chat with your merchant or sales adviser on fertiliser prices.

Straw payments: The Straw Incorporation Measure payments are being issued at present. They started on Tuesday, 16 December. Check if the payment has made its way to your account. Many people have received their Protein Aid Measure payment by now.

Check in with your adviser if you have not. Unfortunately, these payments are now making up a large part of tillage farm incomes and are some of the only guaranteed money. Some livestock farmers associate straw imports with the straw incorporation measure. The reality is there is plenty of Irish straw available at present, so the measure is not impacting the market.

If you cannot find a buyer for that straw, then chopping should be on the agenda next season. At €250/ha, or €100/ac, it is the best price you will be paid for straw in the current market, while adding a benefit to the soil and putting back in the phosphorus and potassium.

Cover crops: Hold off on doing anything with cover crops until 1 January. Weather won’t allow you into fields anyway, but they must remain in place until 1 January.