Crops suffer in subnormal July temperatures

AFTER a week of wintry July weather, ICMSA president Pat O'Rourke has estimated extra farming costs for the summer of 2002 at more than €100m.

According to Teagasc Chief Tillage Advisor, Jim O'Mahony, cereal disease levels are the worst in 10 years, and potato blackleg and blight levels are high.

Maize and sugar beet were very backward, with beet having the better recovery chances. What looked last spring like a great tillage growing year, especially for winter wheat, now looks like a poor year.

Met Éireann agricultural data from 11 weather stations for the week to last Sunday showed subnormal temperatures everywhere, coldest at Kilkenny and Valentia, 1.6 degrees belowbehind the 30 year average.

Rain ranged from 45% above average at Mullingar to 125% above average at Rosslare.

Sunshine was between 46% (Baldonnel) and 97% (Malin Head) of normal.

Soil temperature was subnormal everywhere, coldest at Birr, 2.9 degrees below normal.

Teagasc have estimated that more than 75% of first cut silage has been harvested. However, in wetter areas, some animals were still housed because of poor grass growth and soft ground conditions.