Dear member,
On behalf of the Council of the Irish Tillage and Land Use Society, I would like to invite you to our Winter Conference and Annual General Meeting which will be held on 1st December 2011 at the Clanard Court Hotel, Athy, Co Kildare. The theme for our conference is ‘Evolving Tillage Policy and Maintaining High Yields’.
Ongoing changes in policy will set the conditions for the development of the tillage sector over the next decade. In particular, the outcome of the negotiations on the CAP post-2013 and the impacts on the tillage sector of the Food Harvest 2020 Strategy will both be of huge significance for tillage farmers. Of more immediate importance, the new Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation has relevance for the carrying out of land improvement works. In the morning, speakers from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, will outline the latest in policy developments and their impacts on the shaping of the tillage sector into the future. The details and implications of the new land improvement legislation will also be outlined.
2011 will be remembered as a year of bumper crop yields. What was it about 2011 that resulted in such high yielding crops, and more importantly, how can we repeat and maintain these high yields into the future? These are the questions that will be addressed in the afternoon session. Specifically, what is it that creates such high yields and how do we feed high yielding crops? Protecting against disease and the challenges that might be presented in controlling disease over the coming years will also be examined.
The conference promises to be a very informative day and provides an opportunity to catch up on the latest developments. Pre-booking is essential to guarantee lunch and to enable optimum layout of the conference room. The programme is enclosed and I look forward to seeing you on the day.
ITLUS Annual Conference 2011
Evolving Tillage Policy and Maintaining High Yields
Conference Programme
09.30 – 10.00 am Tea /Coffee
10.00 – 10.10 am Opening of the Irish Tillage and Land Use Society Annual Conference 2011
Dr Barry O’Reilly – President
Morning Session: Policy Developments
10.10 – 11.10 am Changing policy and impacts on the tillage sector
Aidan O’Driscoll – DAFM
11.10 – 12.00 am Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation
Bill Callanan – DAFM
12.00 – 13.00 pm Annual General Meeting
13.00 – 14.30 pm Lunch
Afternoon Session: Maintaining High Grain Yields
14.30 – 15.15 pm Physiological requirements for high grain yields
Dr Patrick Forrestal
15.15 – 16.00 pm Basic nutrition for high yielding crops
Stan Lalor – Teagasc
16.00 – 16.45 pm Protecting against fungal disease – the challenges
Dr Tom McCabe – UCD
16.45 – 17.15 pm Discussion
17.15 pm Close of Conference
Speaker Profiles
Aidan O’Driscoll is an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He has a very broad remit that covers EU & International Trade, CAP Rural Development, Food Industry Development, Economics and Planning and Sustainability including Climate change, Air/water quality and biofuels.
Bill Callinan is a Senior Inspector in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He is head of the Environment and Engineering Services Division. Main duties include the evaluation and development of appropriate policy, legislation and programmes relating to soil, water, biodiversity and air.
Dr Patrick Forrestal is from a farming background in New Ross. He studied Agricultural Science in UCD where he also completed a Masters looking at agronomic aspects of malting barley husbandry. He worked as an agronomist with Wexford Farmers Co-op before taking up a research position in the University of Maryland where he has recently completed his PhD studies on crop physiology.
Dr Stan Lalor is a Teagasc researcher based at Johnstown Castle. He is the author of several research papers as well as being the editor of the Teagasc Fertiliser Recommendations which is the main reference for crop nutrition advice for advisors. Stan’s main area of research is on the recovery of nitrogen from animal manures applied to grassland and the evaluation of nitrogen cycling in grassland systems at the whole farm level, soil specific N flows, dynamics and Decision Support Systems for agriculture.
Dr Tom McCabe is a crop science lecturer in UCD and also runs a UCD company called Crop Research Ltd. As well as lecturing to undergraduates, Tom supervises student’s completing their studies at Masters and PhD level in crop science at UCD. He has directed the crop trials program in UCD for many years with a special emphasis on crop disease control and has comprehensively evaluated all of the crop fungicide families currently on the Irish market.
ITLUS Winter Conference Booking Form
(Please complete in Block Capitals)
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Conference Fee |
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Conference Fee: Members €50
Non- members €80
Please return booking form, with cheque (payable to ITLUS), no later than 24th November 2011 to :
Stuart Goodwin
c/o Teagasc
Kildalton College
Piltown
Co. Kilkenny
Tel: 051 644412
Email: stuart.goodwin@teagasc.ie