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Soil analysis vital for farmers  

Farmers across Ireland have been urged to carry out soil analysis in order to determine pH and identify low phosphorus (P) and potash (K) index soils. According to Senior Agricultural Technologist at CAFRE, Aveen McMullan as the pH increases from 5 to 6-6.5, a greater percentage of the N, P and K applied will be utilised by the plant. This in turn means that less fertiliser will be wasted.  

This comes as there’s been an increase in the price of fertilisers, with AFBI, Agrisearch and CAFRE hosting a recent webinar regarding this.

AFBI researcher, Dr Debbie McConnell says that CAN prices rose from £300 to £600 per tonne, thereby increasing the cost of producing 1kg of grass by £11 to £22. She adds that across a typical 40ha grazing platform that equates to an additional cost of £8,940/year.

It’s understood that when CAN price rises to £600/t, the grass feed value over the season from the same fertiliser application rate is reduced to 2.5 times the fertiliser cost. 

However, McMullan has advised that farmers carry out soil structure and sward assessments in order to maximise growth. Farmers would then have the necessary results in order to identify issues that could affect growth and reduce production of grass swards.

LSL News.  

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