Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 January 2017
1363. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the origin of the advice from Teagasc to farmers to engage in pre-harvest desiccation for all varieties of wheat, oats, barley, peas, oilseed rape and linseed. [41325/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraTeagasc has a significant role in advising farmers in all aspects of agricultural production, including the cultivation of crops. To that end, Teagasc offers an advisory service tailored to each individual farmer's requirements and this is attached to the payment of an annual fee. Advice in the area of crop production is very much customised to each distinctly different growing situation. As such, while there are general blueprints for the successful growing of crops produced by Teagasc, such as “The Spring Barley Guide 2015” and “The Winter Wheat Guide 2016”, there is no generalised recommendation or advice proffered for issues around disease control or crop desiccation and each individual crop/field scenario is assessed on its own merits and resulting advice is customised.
There is a greater necessity for crop desiccation in both the UK and Ireland due to our damp maritime climatic conditions and while the practice is proven to be completely safe, it has been decided to discontinue the practice in cereal crops from 2017 and restrict pre-harvest application of glyphosate to that which is necessary to achieve the control of problematic weeds. This decision will be kept under review.
