The current heatwave dominated tonight’s show. First in to studio was James Murphy, Kilkenny IFA Chairman. He sounded a cautious but optimistic note regarding current fodder issues and discussed both the issues of water for animals and the real threat of fire in farms due to the current weather.
He spoke about a recent IFA trip to Scandinavia, specifically Swede and Norway, bordering EU and non EU countries who have their own approaches to border control. In the light of Brexit this was interesting to Irish farmers. His message was that while there were controls in place they were not without their challenges.
With the consultation phase of CAP 2020 under way, James spoke about the issues affecting IFA members and suggested that there was more to discuss. He also suggested some online resources for farmers interested in this area.
Matt spoke with Pat Minnock, agri-consultant with a specific interest in tillage and they discussed the impact of recent weather on cereal crops. Pat was optimistic on the yield potential of winter crops but less so for later sown crops such as Spring barley. He noted the recent in world grain prices and commented that they were timely and much need after the recent history of low prices.
Paul Hennessy, principal of Kildalton Agricultural College, spoke with Matt about the Sustainable Dairy Open Day, happening on Thursday, July 5th.
We had the weekly Farm Diary sponsored by Tullow Mart and George Candler joined us from Kilkenny Mart to give the Kilkenny Mart Report.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/464770029″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]
