Grain prices

Soils in this area aren't overly suited to spring cropping of cereals, not due to bad farming practices but their heavy nature. We grow fantastic crops of winter wheat 9 years out of ten due to the heavier nature of the soil. Last back end due to terrible weather very little wheat was planted due to none of the reasons on your so called pretty endless list above other than hugely excessive rainfall.
These farmers were left with very few options this spring only beans, spring wheat or spring barley and because of getting 10mm of rain and drying east winds in the past 9 weeks the spring barley in particular is struggling big time.
As cork said above a bit of sensitivity towards lads whose crops are struggling wouldn't go amiss.
My own are acceptable, il not lose sleep over them as I've other income streams but for lads solely depending on them it's tough.
It doesn't seem that long ago that ye dairy boys down south were pleading with the government for grant aided fodder support schemes.
Short memories it seems

What's your general location @Bcl as from looking at weather data Dublin airport is driest over the last 9 weeks in all of ireland with 50mm of rain? You must have me mixed up with someone else as im not dairy, and I dont entertain any support schemes for extraordinary events, as I believe you have to roll with the punches and no point crying wolf at any hiccup
 
Irrigation is hardly too big a deal for a spud farmer who is all planted up, therby staff not overly busy and irragators already on farm but not yet needed for the spuds and cheap fuel. Maybe I'm wrong but I can't see a huge expense, certainly not half a tonne mentioned above.
I was asking what sort of a cost irragation would be, didnt think it would stop at €65 an acre to put on a meaningful amount. @Sheebadog would surely be able to give a figure.
 
What's your general location @Bcl as from looking at weather data Dublin airport is driest over the last 9 weeks in all of ireland with 50mm of rain? You must have me mixed up with someone else as im not dairy, and I dont entertain any support schemes for extraordinary events, as I believe you have to roll with the punches and no point crying wolf at any hiccup
Fifteen minutes from Dublin airport. As I said 10mm of rain in 6 weeks plus a harsh drying East wind for a lot of it is leaving the place like a dust bowl.
Must have had you mixed with someone else and I don't entertain supports for extraordinary events either but a little more sympathy for struggling men wouldn't go amiss or maybe a more empathetic tone to your posts rather than condescending.
I'm sure those lads aren't irrigating for the craic and have a reasonable idea of the costs involved.
I think this year will be the final nail in coffin for some tillage operations the way it's going at the moment
 
Your paying for fertiliser that has not even been manufactured, fancy asking your merchant for an advance of 6 months on your forward sold grain...........come to think of it many Irish lads do that with merchant credit:lol:, but there is a auld 5% charge for the privilege. Falling prices take the big risk out of the game, no point been too worried, only danger is to be tempted back to high input.

Heard of lads irrigating spring barley yesterday. Do they not realise SB at 135? Would you put pump and engines into a field in Ireland for less than half a ton of barley, I doubt it. I suppose easier than blaming the weather for losing money
I spoke to one distributor yesterday about delivery and payment details. They’ve no bother with payment of 50% before 31st Dec and the remainder 30 days after delivery...this has me thinking that it could fall more?
There’s no such thing as merchant credit here. Everything has to be paid in full 30days after delivery.
The variable cost of putting 30-35mm per hectare is between €6-9/ha. Doesn’t include labor, machinery purchase/repayments etc.
 
I’ve ripped out very late sown Planet and planted sunflowers. The Planet just didn’t germinate...
With respect to growers that have crops stressed from lack of moisture I’ve wwheat that has got 12mm in the last 7weeks that is flying and I’ve more showing drought stress. The stressed wheat is after traditional plough/till/sow. Scratch/min till are showing no stress so far. I’ve no direct drill wwheat/wbarley because conditions were so bad at sowing.
Around 50-55% if French wheat is rated good to excellent, back 25-35% from last year. So it’s not going to be a barnbuster out of France...
I’m as quick as anyone to whip out the ploughs when/if needed, but it’s always the last resort due to higher cost. From digging down into the ground there’s plenty moisture down at 40cm but after the plough the roots haven’t passed 25cm but it’s to be expected because we absolutely mauled in the crop so one can’t point the finger of blame on the plough.
We don’t/won’t irrigate any cereals for several reasons including lack of water efficiency and thus economic return.
 
Hard to believe such a difference in a small country. Lashing down here for last few days but very cold east wind with it. Better than pepper dry and east wind tho I suppose. Have crops struggled to germinate due to the dry weather?
 
Hard to believe such a difference in a small country. Lashing down here for last few days but very cold east wind with it. Better than pepper dry and east wind tho I suppose. Have crops struggled to germinate due to the dry weather?
Yeah parts of fields, especially bits that were possibly ploughed a bit wet and then dried out on top quickly before tilling are struggling.
Everything just needs a good soak.
I've a reasonable crop of winter barley that's awned out across the brows of hills but the rest of the fields haven't a flag leaf yet. Hard to believe such a difference in a field but it's hard to put it down to anything other than moisture stress. It will even up in its own good time I hope
 
I’ve ripped out very late sown Planet and planted sunflowers. The Planet just didn’t germinate...
With respect to growers that have crops stressed from lack of moisture I’ve wwheat that has got 12mm in the last 7weeks that is flying and I’ve more showing drought stress. The stressed wheat is after traditional plough/till/sow. Scratch/min till are showing no stress so far. I’ve no direct drill wwheat/wbarley because conditions were so bad at sowing.
Around 50-55% if French wheat is rated good to excellent, back 25-35% from last year. So it’s not going to be a barnbuster out of France...
I’m as quick as anyone to whip out the ploughs when/if needed, but it’s always the last resort due to higher cost. From digging down into the ground there’s plenty moisture down at 40cm but after the plough the roots haven’t passed 25cm but it’s to be expected because we absolutely mauled in the crop so one can’t point the finger of blame on the plough.
We don’t/won’t irrigate any cereals for several reasons including lack of water efficiency and thus economic return.
Your use of large amounts of organic manures has to be a huge factor
 
Crops here have had about 17mm since mid March.
It's been tricky. There's still a hint of fertiliser on top on winter crops that were spread 24 March, we all know the troubles they've had! The drying from the North East has been brutal at times.

We didn't plough until late March to give land a chance to soak, it'd have gone like the road otherwise. Having said that the earlier sown stuff with more moisture is doing better.
There was a serious jam up of work after 6 months rain, some land dried out too much before it was got to - inevitable really!
On the whole I'm content we did everything as well as possible, crop's are ok, there's a small proportion that didn't germinate - yet..
As always the better rotation slots look the best.

I still prefer recreational tillage in sunny weather rather than wet weather! :unsure:
 
What would be a normal Soil moisture deficiency in your part? What will your crops happily work away at
Last time I looked it was at 78mm.
Normal summer would be 95-100.

If winter crops are planted in good conditions and we get a dry spring, they’re well set up for the drought because the roots go down after water. Worst case scenario is a wet spring followed by drought. Likewise summer crops like maize etc, you’ve got to stress them to get the roots down. If you irrigate too early the crop becomes dependent on you, if you irrigate too late they can suffer ‘hydraulic shock’ and mess up the crop.
Like everything else, there’s a bit of a knack to it. I’ve achieved better yields than my neighbor with 3 passes of 35mm than him with 7 passes of 30mm. I’m oversimplifying because there’s a lot depends on soil structure, rotation, cover crops etc etc.
Irrigation is very much ‘seat of the pants’ kinda farming. Nothing is written in stone.
 
Last time I looked it was at 78mm.
Normal summer would be 95-100.

If winter crops are planted in good conditions and we get a dry spring, they’re well set up for the drought because the roots go down after water. Worst case scenario is a wet spring followed by drought. Likewise summer crops like maize etc, you’ve got to stress them to get the roots down. If you irrigate too early the crop becomes dependent on you, if you irrigate too late they can suffer ‘hydraulic shock’ and mess up the crop.
Like everything else, there’s a bit of a knack to it. I’ve achieved better yields than my neighbor with 3 passes of 35mm than him with 7 passes of 30mm. I’m oversimplifying because there’s a lot depends on soil structure, rotation, cover crops etc etc.
Irrigation is very much ‘seat of the pants’ kinda farming. Nothing is written in stone.

Heaven forbid we would get such a drought here. We be straight onto to EU for emergency funds every spring:laugh:
 
Heaven forbid we would get such a drought here. We be straight onto to EU for emergency funds every spring:laugh:
With utmost respect to lads with suffering crops, and all shades of climate change believer and dissenter, we seem to be getting exactly what climate models from Maynooth Uni and elsewhere have said we were going to get. Drier hotter summers, and milder wetter winters with more extreme weather events. We have to start adapting a little. Some crops love the dry. Spring rape is flying here afer a few mm of rain. Peas are enjoying it too. I've given up on beans, because I don't get enough water to grow them. I've combi cropped nearly all the spring barley with peas because it eases drought stress. I've no tilled where I could and left the ground covered in residue. Now I have some shite looking stuff, but overal I'm reasonably happy. I'm not pretending wisdom because I'm definitely not wise. But I think we have to start looking at every option to build resilience in soils to even out these weather bumps. We're bollixed if we don't imho. And if something were to be emergency aided, that should be it.
 
With utmost respect to lads with suffering crops, and all shades of climate change believer and dissenter, we seem to be getting exactly what climate models from Maynooth Uni and elsewhere have said we were going to get. Drier hotter summers, and milder wetter winters with more extreme weather events. We have to start adapting a little. Some crops love the dry. Spring rape is flying here afer a few mm of rain. Peas are enjoying it too. I've given up on beans, because I don't get enough water to grow them. I've combi cropped nearly all the spring barley with peas because it eases drought stress. I've no tilled where I could and left the ground covered in residue. Now I have some shite looking stuff, but overal I'm reasonably happy. I'm not pretending wisdom because I'm definitely not wise. But I think we have to start looking at every option to build resilience in soils to even out these weather bumps. We're bollixed if we don't imho. And if something were to be emergency aided, that should be it.
I agree that we need to adapt cropping to suit our soils and climate, but based on experience in 2018, peas are not a drought tolerant crop. They produce lots of biomass but very few pods. They're more drought tolerant than beans but will disappoint in a hot dry summer.
 
With utmost respect to lads with suffering crops, and all shades of climate change believer and dissenter, we seem to be getting exactly what climate models from Maynooth Uni and elsewhere have said we were going to get. Drier hotter summers, and milder wetter winters with more extreme weather events. We have to start adapting a little. Some crops love the dry. Spring rape is flying here afer a few mm of rain. Peas are enjoying it too. I've given up on beans, because I don't get enough water to grow them. I've combi cropped nearly all the spring barley with peas because it eases drought stress. I've no tilled where I could and left the ground covered in residue. Now I have some shite looking stuff, but overal I'm reasonably happy. I'm not pretending wisdom because I'm definitely not wise. But I think we have to start looking at every option to build resilience in soils to even out these weather bumps. We're bollixed if we don't imho. And if something were to be emergency aided, that should be it.
Alright now stick with me here, I have been thinking for the last few weeks, since the lockdowns and massive slow down in emissions, that this could cause a massive spike in global temperature and reduction in summer rainfall. The pollution tends to reflect the suns warmth and seed rain clouds, we could be in for a long hot summer?
 
Alright now stick with me here, I have been thinking for the last few weeks, since the lockdowns and massive slow down in emissions, that this could cause a massive spike in global temperature and reduction in summer rainfall. The pollution tends to reflect the suns warmth and seed rain clouds, we could be in for a long hot summer?[/QUOTE
I agree that we need to adapt cropping to suit our soils and climate, but based on experience in 2018, peas are not a drought tolerant crop. They produce lots of biomass but very few pods. They're more drought tolerant than beans but will disappoint in a hot dry summer.

Of course yeah but certainly more relaible then beans here anyway. As for the long hot summer, I think it'd be on trend.
 
Of course yeah but certainly more relaible then beans here anyway. As for the long hot summer, I think it'd be on trend.
I am not saying don't reduce emissions, that it is not a good thing or that there is not a trend there anyway, just that I believe that the short term effect of less pollution will be even higher temps because of the clearer skies.
 
With utmost respect to lads with suffering crops, and all shades of climate change believer and dissenter, we seem to be getting exactly what climate models from Maynooth Uni and elsewhere have said we were going to get. Drier hotter summers, and milder wetter winters with more extreme weather events. We have to start adapting a little. Some crops love the dry. Spring rape is flying here afer a few mm of rain. Peas are enjoying it too. I've given up on beans, because I don't get enough water to grow them. I've combi cropped nearly all the spring barley with peas because it eases drought stress. I've no tilled where I could and left the ground covered in residue. Now I have some shite looking stuff, but overal I'm reasonably happy. I'm not pretending wisdom because I'm definitely not wise. But I think we have to start looking at every option to build resilience in soils to even out these weather bumps. We're bollixed if we don't imho. And if something were to be emergency aided, that should be it.
What do you do or what’s the plan with the peas and barley mix?
 
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