A rush of emergency chemical permit approvals has been unable to satisfy surging demand from frustrated croppers needing more fungicide options as spring’s big wet gets wetter.
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Senior consultant with Independent Consultants Australian Network (ICAN), Mark Congreve, said unprecedented fungicide demand, particularly for chickpea crops, was making growers panic.
"Some better agronomists and growers noticed the big planted areas and weather forecasts, and bought products months ago," Mr Congreve said.
"Most people who’ve had enough for four sprays, should be covered for the season, but if they didn’t plan for this it's now getting very difficult to find fungicide.”
Pulse Australia’s chief executive officer, Nick Goddard, said growers had generally done the right thing with mid season preventative spray treatments, but although a broader range of chemicals had been approved for this year, some options may be less effective at controlling late season problems.
A list of registered and emergency-approved fungicides was updated by Pulse Australia this week.
Growers should familiarise themselves with chemical product label details, including withholding periods before harvest, Mr Goddard said.
A brilliant start to the season had turned “very sad” for some farmers said Pulse Australia’s northern industry development manager, Paul McIntosh.
Waterlogged paddocks were staying wet and the waiting time to secure extra chemicals was stretching out too long, with some orders for chickpea product apparently unlikely to fly in until mid October.
It was a “really frustrating time” for farmers who may have already spent big money applying two or three sprays, or perhaps more than five sprays in parts of NSW.
ICAN’s Mr Congreve said all chickpea varieties – even ascochyta blight resistant lines – should be sprayed for ascochyta, and many crops also needed botrytis grey mould (BGM) sprays in the next month.
"BGM can take off as the weather warms up.”
Landmark Tamworth agronomist Casey Onus, said ascochyta in chickpeas and net blotch in cereals were the biggest problems in her area.
"We planned well ahead for our clients spray programs, but there's really no extra fungicide available at this stage."
Wheat and barley, growers had started to spray as paddocks dried out, while most pulse crops had already been sprayed twice and would need another one or two before harvest.
Pulse Australia’s Cootamundra-based industry development manager, Phil Bowden, warned it was now “nearly impossible” to get effective aerial spray coverage because pulse crop foliage was getting too dense for the amount of chemical able to be applied from aircraft.
Some growers were still looking at good yields, while others reported failed crops because of waterlogging and insufficient opportunities to spray.
"Some crops aren't worth keeping, so growers are better off getting the paddock ready for a summer crop."
