Teagasc will host its first ever Grass Weed Conference this November. The conference comes at a time when more evidence of resistance to herbicides is being seen in grass weeds and as incidences of blackgrass and other problem weeds increase on farms.

The conference will display findings from the Enable Conservation Tillage Project. The morning session will show attendees the results of a grass weed survey, which focused on current control practices and weed distribution.

Two Co Wexford farmers will then tell their stories from the project and there will be a Q&A session.

Weeds

The second session is called: 'How weeds adapt to your conservation tillage system' and features guest speaker John Cussans from NIAB in the UK.

Farmer Eoin Lyons from Co Kilkenny will then talk about his participation in the project. He will be joined by researcher Dermot Forristal, and once again, there will be time for questions and answers.

After lunch, the focus turns to herbicide resistance. Vijaya Bhaskar will show the weed distribution and resistance levels from across the country.

Blackgrass removal

Sarah Cook from ADAS in the UK will then explain how to eliminate low populations of blackgrass and how to control large populations of blackgrass on your farm.

There will be a presentation on the future of herbicides for Irish farmers. Farmers from counties Waterford and Kildare will share their stories.

In the final session of the day, Michael Hennessy of Teagasc will deliver the main messages from the Enable Conservation Tillage Project. There will also be a practical demonstration on grass weed identification with staff from the project.

Commercial area

There will be a commercial area on the day, with stands from Bayer, Corteva, seed houses and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The conference takes place in the Killashee Hotel, Naas, Co Kildare, on Wednesday 8 November at 10.30am, and will close at 4.30pm.

Entry is free and people are welcome to attend in person or online.

You can register for the conference here.