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a number of issues raised at the last get-together. And he may well be tackling the blackgrass issue on the same basis.”


ICSA WELCOMES EU PARLIAMENT REPORT ON PALM OIL Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) president Patrick Kent has given a guarded welcome to the European Parliament own initiative report on imported palm oil, which he says, “is a much more nuanced response to use of biofuels as a transport fuel in Europe.” However, Mr Kent warned that the report, which was recently


passed by an overwhelming majority of the EU parliament in Strasbourg, must now be followed by a logical position on promoting more use of sustainable biofuels from crops grown by European farmers which are achieving up to 70% reductions on GHG emissions compared to imported fossil fuels. “The report correctly indicates that land use change in terms of


biofuels is actually an issue around one specific type of biofuel based on imported biofuel and therefore the whole premise of the RED II proposal to reduce biofuels from 7% to 3.8% in transport energy is completely misguided. “Moreover, the report touches on the issue of land use change


around imported soya but it is vital to recognise that European farmers need protein sources for livestock feed. Accordingly, there will potentially be increased need for by-products from EU biofuels such as distillers’ grains which are high in protein and locally available.” According to Kent, the report should now inform the discussion


on the RED II proposals on cutting all biofuels which make no sense and which would, if implemented, undermine a much needed outlet for EU maize, rapeseed and sugar beet production at a time when EU tillage farmers are under serious pressure from falling prices due to world record crop production levels.


DEVENISH NUTRITION IN PHILIPPINES’ DEAL Belfast-based Devenish has announced a new partnership with Eddel Bihis from Interfarma, to grow the Devenish business in the Philippines market. Director of International Business with Devenish, Ian Atterbury,


said: “We are extremely excited by the opportunity to work with Eddel and the Interfarma team, to grow together in the Phillipines market. Eddel has a long history of working with our Regional Manager for Asia Pacific, Jean Brinkman, and has a pig nutrition background. Eddel will be a real asset to the Devenish business, as we both seek to enhance the performance of our customers’ business in Asia.” Commenting on this new partnership, Eddel Bihis, CEO of


PAGE 24 MAY/JUNE 2017 FEED COMPOUNDER


Interfarma Nutraceuticals, Inc. said: “We very much look forward to working with the Devenish


team, where innovation is at the core of their business, in delivering sustainability and performance to our mutual customers.”


In my opinion … Richard Halleron


SEPTORIA RESISTANCE WILL BE A GAME CHANGER FOR IRISH GRAIN SECTOR There was much talk about new fungicides that might be coming to the Irish market at the recent Teagasc Septoria Conference in Co. Meath. But the fundamental message coming out of the event was two-


fold. First up, we already have a fundamental septoria resistance problem in this country and, secondly, the fungicides that are already available must be used to optimal effect. I am not aware of Teagasc having ever hosted a conference on


such a specific issue before. So, the scale of the septoria problem facing Irish cereal growers must be immense. One of the speakers compared it to the challenge facing the livestock industry, where growing resistance to antibiotics is concerned. My understanding is that the Teagasc hierarchy is developing a


best practice spraying programme for the current season. This will be disseminated to advisers in pretty short order. On the back of this development, the advice for growers is pretty self-evident. But it was also obvious from the range of presentations given that


the conveyor belt of new fungicides that have helped to boost cereal crop performance levels over recent years is about to slow down dramatically. Who or what is applying the brakes? The short answer is the EU Commission’s new pesticide registration procedures. Seemingly, it cost around €80m to have a new fungicide registered back in 1997. The comparable figure today is €265m. As a result, there is no magic bullet coming down the track that


can be brought to bear in the fight against septoria resistance. This leaves growers with no options other than that of going back to first principles and working with nature, not against it. This means that the days of growing continuous wheat in Ireland


may be over. And, at a more general level, there is no doubt that tillage farmers will have to get really serious, once again, about adopting rotations that help reduce overall disease burdens within their crops. I know that many cereal growers have a problem with the


current ‘three-crop rule’, which is at the centre of the CAP greening requirements. But, given the current septoria debacle, it has turned out that Brussels was right all along. Perhaps what we really need is a four or five-crop rule!


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