Enable Conservation Tillage (ECT) - Wider Adoption of Sustainable Conservation Tillage Systems

Geographical location	Ireland
Main geographical location (NUTS3)	South-East (IE)
Keywords	Agricultural production system Farming practice Farming equipment and machinery Plant production and horticulture Pest / disease control Fertilisation and nutrients management Soil management / functionality Climate and climate change Biodiversity and nature management Farming / forestry competitiveness and diversification
Additional keywords	conservation agriculture reduced tillage zero tillage innovation support service knowledge exchange carbon footprint
Main funding source	Rural development 2014-2020 for Operational Groups (in the sense of Art 56 of Reg.1305/2013)
Project type	Operational group
Starting date	2018
End date	2023
Project status	Ongoing

Title (in English):

Objective of the project (native language):

Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices provides opportunities to reduce costs and have environmental benefits however it adoption is hampered by grass weeds in Ireland.

The project aims to enable the adoption of conservation agriculture practices on Irish tillage farms, by providing farmers with the knowledge skills and capacity to achieve effective grass weed control and prioritise farmer to farmer knowledge and innovation exchange. The project will put a strong focus on validation and demonstration on growers own fields, using large scale validation trials in multiple locations maximising peer to peer knowledge transfer.

Objective of the project (in English):

Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices provides opportunities to reduce costs and have environmental benefits however it adoption is hampered by grass weeds in Ireland.

Description of activities (native language):

-Develop an innovation hub with farmers central, and linked to stakeholders, including seed assemblers, merchants, farm advisors, researchers and herbicide manufacturers, with a focus on solving the grass weed challenge thereby enabling the adoption of CA.

-Work with 10 arable farms with different cultivation systems and grass weeds who will co-develop techniques for grass weed control and practical aids to quantify and control grass weed populations

-Determine the factors that impact on grass weed prevalence on farms

-Evaluating cover crops as a grass weed control measure

-Establish the level and source of grass weed herbicide resistance

-Assess and demonstrate novel weed control approaches

Description of activities (in English):

-Work with 10 arable farms with different cultivation systems and grass weeds who will co-develop techniques for grass weed control and practical aids to quantify and control grass weed populations

-Determine the factors that impact on grass weed prevalence on farms

-Evaluating cover crops as a grass weed control measure

-Establish the level and source of grass weed herbicide resistance

-Assess and demonstrate novel weed control approaches

Total budget:

1000000

Project coordinator

Contact person:

Michael Hennessy

Address:

Teagasc, Oak Park, Co. Carlow

E-mail:

michael.hennessy@teagasc.ie

Phone:

00353 76 1111227

Partner category:

Researcher

Practice summary

Practice abstract 1

Short summary for practitioners (in English):

Across many regions of the world, Conservation Agriculture (CA) techniques (or Conservation Tillage), which incorporate less intensive soil cultivation, have been adopted to reduce production costs and to improve sustainability. Irish farmers have been reluctant to adopt CA techniques because of concerns about grass weeds and crop establishment in a mild, wetter climate. CA practices can enable rapid spread of grass weeds such as sterile brome or blackgrass, particularly in a mild climate, and herbicide resistance is now reducing options for control and will force an increased use of non-chemical control options. While an integrated approach to weed control, combining cultural (stale seedbeds, crop rotation, sowing date manipulation etc.) and conventional control methods, offers scope to reduce the grass weed problem, farmers are uncertain about the effectiveness and implementation of these methods. This project addresses this problem by setting up a network of farms to co-design, validate and demonstrate the best grass weed control measures and consequently, will remove a key barrier to the adoption of conservation agriculture techniques. The structure of the project maximises farmer to farmer knowledge exchange.

Short summary for practitioners (native language):

Further details

Description of the context of the project:

Irish tillage farmers have been reluctant to adopt CA techniques however because of concerns about grass weeds and crop establishment in a mild, wetter climate. This lack of engagement threatens the sustainability and competitiveness of arable crop production in Ireland.

Additional information:

The expected results and practical recommendations of the ECT Project are:

Improved farmer and industry knowledge about the level of the grass weed challenge and management factors which influence grass weed proliferation.
Improved adoption of sustainable grass weed control measures across all crop production systems; conservation agriculture and conventional crop establishment.
Increased adoption of conservation agriculture techniques facilitated by enhanced weed control measures by tillage farmers.
Demonstration of the effectiveness of farmer-centred activities, such as demonstrations, validation trials and case studies, as suitable technology transfer tools for challenges requiring complex practical actions.
Publication of a set of practical farmer aids/tools to help quantify grass weed problems, identify solutions and the best way to combine options to control the grass weed in the identified establishment system.
Identification of obstacles which hinder weed control at farm level for specific establishment systems, and of specific solutions to overcome the obstacles.
National picture of herbicide resistance with practical recommendations for farmers to deal with resistance or to prevent resistance development as appropriate.
Determining the role of new practices such as remote sensing images and alternative weed destruction techniques.
Developing a stronger social fabric among arable farmers and the industry through the pursuit of a common goal to solving a series of complex problems.