Rain disrupting harvest
August has been the wettest month in 18 years across much of the country and has played havoc with harvesting.
The ground is also becoming soft and loaded vehicles are leaving tracks in fields. Combines have also had to abandon sections of crops for fear of getting stuck.
IFA grain committee chairman Paddy Harrington said wheat is ripe and ready for cutting and the quality is excellent.
But if the weather does not improve, sprouting could be a problem and the harvesting will become a salvage operation, he said.
Met Éireann reports that west Munster, Connacht and Ulster have been drier than normal for August. But the rest of Munster and almost all of Leinster has been very wet.
With further showers forecast, Teagasc is advising farmers to use any break in the weather to cut crops, otherwise a substantial amount of the harvest could be lost due to sprouting and shedding.
Farmers in Britain are faring even worse and are now facing one of the worst harvests in memory, with rain-sodden crops rotting in the fields and the prospect of rock-bottom prices for what they can salvage because of good crops abroad.
