2021 - Teagasc Heavy Soils Programme – Lessons Learne

The initial development of the Teagasc Heavy Soils Programme was encouraged by a number of factors, namely; a number of years of extreme summer rainfall, particularly 2009 and 2012; an appetite for more detailed research with regard to the management of heavy soils and land drainage and the impending removal of quota restrictions which would incentivise the need for optimal use of all resources, including land.
It was decided to establish a programme to develop a network of farms on poorly drained soils to act as a test bed for strategies and management practices that could be implemented to improve the efficiency and performance of farms dominated by such soils.