Matt Dempsey

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Matt Dempsey

You know the year is moving on when the area aid form and maps arrive. Ours came at the end of last week – we are just getting used to the Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (BISS) format when we are being bombarded with leaks and rumours of the next CAP reform process. The new policy is due to start in 2027.

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Matt Dempsey

There is a fatalistic atmosphere in Brussels surrounding discussions on financing the next CAP regime due to start in 2027, just after the Irish presidency of the Council of Ministers ends in December 2026. So the heavy lifting will have to be done with the Irish acting as the chair of what are bound to be difficult and prolonged discussions. But in fact, we have a useful parallel created by Germany to solve their own budgetary dilemma.

3 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Matt Dempsey

There is something not working in the grain market. All commodities have recovered in price or, in the case of beef, risen to new levels. But with new tariffs on US grain placed by China, the world price-setting Chicago market has been on a path of continuous decline. The price prospects have been further dented by the likely freeing up of exports from Ukraine and Russia, the largest wheat exporters in the world.

3 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Matt Dempsey

They say no two years in farming are the same and that certainly applies to 2025. It has probably been the easiest tillage spring for many years. All the crops have had their first dressing of an NPK compound and the winter barley and oilseed rape have had their first split of nitrogen. Some time ago, we bought most of the season’s needs as bulk calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) with sulphur. We cleaned out a hay barn with a high roof and concrete floor and had it delivered last week.

4 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Matt Dempsey

All the heavy spring work is now done. We have never had beans sown so early, except that is when we tried one year sowing them in the autumn. It was an experiment that I have never tried since. The crows decimated the crop, even though they were drilled to a good depth. I am hoping that with this year’s early sowing that we don’t see a repeat of that year’s damage. But in the excellent weather, we have the crop well rolled and the consolidated seedbed seems, at least so far, to have deterred them.