Growers in the south-east are confirming that the 2025 cereal harvest is now, more or less, completed with good yields secured across most crops.

It is all adding up to one of the earliest harvest completions in many years.

Averages of 4t/ac have been achieved in counties Wexford and Waterford with both spring and winter barley crops on quite a number of farms.

Grain quality is also good, specifically from a malting barley perspective.

Meanwhile, Teagasc has just published its ninth crop report for the 2024/25 growing season.

It highlights the fact that oilseed rape has been one of the success stories of harvest 2025. 

Most crops have yielded in excess of 2t/ac, according to Teagasc. Coupled with good prices, these crops will leave a good margin for growers this year.

With many growers now finishing up the harvest, there will be ample opportunity to drill crops for the 2026 harvest before the end of this month (August 2025).

Approximately 11.000ha of winter oilseed rape were grown in Ireland during 2024/25. It is envisaged this figure will rise significantly during the year ahead.

By way of comparison, 21,000ha of rape were harvested in Ireland two years ago.

With the earlier than usual harvest now almost complete, it has allowed fields to cleared and ready for autumn management.

In many fields, stubbles have been cultivated - which has allowed them to green up and trap residual soil nitrogen.

The early finish to the harvest in most areas will allow any soil structure remediation to take place. Any necessary action is usually best carried out when soils are relatively dry.

Soil moisture deficits at the moment are anywhere from 5-45mm, so growers should check the soil before doing any remediation.

Sub-soiling in wet soils, for example, will not rectify a compaction issue.

There are a number of product changes to the registration of plant protection products in 2025.

Probably most significant among those for cereal growers is the loss of metribuzin, which is included in products like Firebird Met, for autumn weed control.

Growers and distributors need to be aware of the specific date of final sale and use by dates for these products.

Over the coming months, it will be a case of going through stores to use up any chemical that is going out of registration.

Otherwise, it must be disposed of in accordance with the regulations.