Saturated Irish fields hamper farmers' field work
Farmers in Ireland have struggled to carry out field work in recent weeks because soils are saturated and waterlogged. Met Éireann, the national meteorological service, said that on Friday, October 30, all well and moderately drained soils were saturated.
Farmers in Ireland have found it difficult to carry out field work over the past few weeks, as soil across wide areas has become saturated and waterlogged. The situation was reported by the Irish farming news site Agriland.ie, citing data from Met Éireann, the national meteorological service.
What the forecasters say
According to Met Éireann, as of Friday, October 30, all well drained and moderately drained soils were saturated, while poorly drained soils were waterlogged. The service described the conditions in these terms, with the state of the ground depending on how well each soil drains.
Soil moisture deficits, known as SMDs, were generally ranging from -10mm to 2mm. The measure indicates how much water the soil lacks before it is fully saturated.
Damage from machinery
The Agriland piece is devoted to how farmers can limit the damage that machinery causes to saturated soils. The excerpt available here does not set out specific recommendations, so none are repeated.
Further detail on how farmers can respond to these conditions can be found in the full article on Agriland.ie.
