Supporting sustainable crop production and the role of carbon and nitrogen will be one of the key themes of the 2025 National Tillage Conference this week.
Organised into thematic sessions and targeted workshops, the conference organised by Teagasc, will examine latest research on the capacity of tillage soils to capture carbon, plus the positive impact of cover cropping on water quality in monitored agricultural catchments.
The event, which will take place on Wednesday (January 29) will be held in the Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny and will also look at the environmental credentials of the the tillage sector.
Crop production
In order to maintain the added value opportunity within the sector, the impact of rotation to lessen the risk of mycotoxins in oats will be discussed, along with new opportunities describing the use of pea and bean flour in food processing.
Pesticide use reduction and crop production is a constant subject of discussion at both national and European Union level and the National Tillage Conference will also have a session on what experts think the impact of pesticide reduction in Ireland will be.
There will also be a discussion on what can be learned from existing global research on integrated pest management (IPM) and results of a recently completed expert survey on potential implications such reductions may specifically have on Irish crop production systems.
These results highlight the opinions collated from expert stakeholders across the tillage sector, who have indicated the potentially negative impact current reduction targets will have on productivity.
This particular research also highlighted the critical role IPM will play in aiding mitigation of such potential impacts.
Weed management
Speaking in advance of the conference, head of the Teagasc crops research department, Dr. Ewen Mullins, said: “The practical, interactive workshops in the afternoon, which was very well received in 2024, will allow attendees to participate in sessions of particular interest to them.
“The session is designed to promote more engagement and discussion between attendees and panellists on topics including disease control and weed management decisions, and how best to exploit the environmental credentials of the tillage sector.”
He said other workshops will focus on the potential learnings that can be attained by farmers from on-farm field evaluations of new products ,processes, but equally the trade-offs that can occur in the absence of a robust evaluation method.”
Among the workshop themes on the day will be on-farm field evaluations to optimise production, a weed clinic, the environmental credentials of tillage sector and role of Ag-Nav; disease control decisions for 2025.