A survey of the attendance at Tillage Day showed that farmers feel under pressure from regulations on farms.

Attendees at Tillage Day were asked: “Does having to stubble cultivate within 10 to 14 days of harvest cause excess pressure at that time of year [harvest]?”

Sixty-eight percent of those who answered said yes, it does cause excess pressure.

Some 27% responded that it did not cause pressure and 5% said it did not apply to their farm.

The rules apply to 14 counties - Cork, Waterford, Tipperary and Leinster (apart from Longford).

Crop diversification

A massive 94% of attendees said that they have a crop rotation on their farm.

However, 36% of farmers noted that crop diversification rules which require farmers to grow two or three crops on their farms cause issues on their farms.

A total of 14% of farmers said that the crop diversification rules limit the amount of premium crops they can grow. A total of 9% said that it complicated their rotation.

Another 4% said that the percentages under the rule mean that they have to split parcels on their farms to comply.

On rented land, 5% of farmers said it causes issues on those farms, as they adhere to the rules separately to the rest of their farm. One percent said their land is not suitable for winter or late-ripening crops and another 1% said it limits the amount of break crops they can grow, while another 2% issued other reasons.

It should be noted that 30% of attendees at Tillage Day taking part in the survey had 50ha or less, almost adding up to the same amount of farmers who had issues with crop diversification rules.

'Crop diversification is already there'

Speaking on the rule at the event, agronomist with Cooney Furlong Grain and farmer George Blackburn said: “Some of the legislation needs a bit of nuance.”

George noted that there is 8% of the farmed land in Ireland under tillage and there are 11 main commercial crops being grown on that area.

“The crop diversification is already there. I don’t know why it can’t be managed at a macro level rather than a micro level,” George commented.

He noted that a farmer with 35ac or 14ha has to have two crops under the rule. George commented that many cans of spray are designed for 5ha (12.5ac), so there is spray left over.

He said that likely-part-time farmer could get a contract for malting barley on all of the 35ac to be more profitable and avail of cover crops under ACRES, but instead has to grow 7ac to 8ac of a different crop.

George added that while equivalence is a good initiative from the Department where farmers can sow 50% of their land in cover crops and grow just one crop, it was not made clear that ACRES cover crops could not count under equivalence.