THE RECORD breaking autumn heat wave that has followed to a long hot summer has some growers holding off on beginning winter crop sowing programs, especially through parts of central and northern NSW.
John Eastburn, chairman of Grain Growers and farmer at Baradine, NSW, said farmers in his area will require a good rain before embarking on planting.
As it stands he said the hot April, which has set the ground hard on top and below average rainfall over the summer has meant confidence through central NSW is subdued.
“It is nothing for us to have 15 inches (375mm) over summer, but this year we’ve had very little and that subsoil moisture is critical to our cropping systems,” Mr Eastburn said.
“From here you’d want a series of good autumn rain events before people would be happy with the situation.”
Mr Eastburn said farmers were already looking to plant more cereals as they looked to cut down on risk.
Further to the south, in Victoria and southern NSW it is also bone dry, however farmers there are less concerned about sowing dry.
“Sowing into bone dry soils in our area is better than having a little moisture,” said Grain Producers Australia (GPA) chairman Andrew Weidemann.
“You don’t want to have just enough moisture to germinate the crop and then run into a hot spell like this which then kills the seedlings,” Mr Weidemann said.
He said the major reason for farmers not pressing the button on dry sowing would not be climate but pest threats.
“In areas with low numbers of livestock in particular we’ve heard of mice numbers building up, and some farmers do not want to risk planting the seed, especially if it is going to sit there a while.”
“There will be plenty of seeding from the 15th of April onwards but there will be some that might hold their fire a little longer than usual because of the pest threat.”
In terms of crop composition, Mr Weidemann said the longer the dry continued the more people would swing into proven low rainfall crops such as barley.
Pulse crop plantings will be back after a big couple of years, while Mr Weidemann also expected canola hectares to be down, while he said the high values on offer for sheep meant there would be more pasture planted.
Jack Williamson, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) northern panel member, based at Goondiwindi, said it had been hot and dry through April in his region, but added there was a reasonable bank of moisture in the subsoil.
“We’d probably need a 25mm rain event to get things going, but if we do manage to get that opening rain for the autumn then it is not looking too bad,” Mr Williamson said.
He said very little crop had been planted as yet.
“There has been some oats that have gone in but not significant hectares by any means.”
Mr Williamson said farmers had got an initial knockdown of early winter weeds that germinated on previous rain.
He said a decision on whether they would embark on another knockdown spray or go straight into sowing would depend on the timing of the next rain.
Simon Craig, Farm 360, based on the Victoria / NSW border in the areas near Swan Hill, said traditional early planted crops such as canola and vetch were being planted in his area.
He said while people seemed happy to plant there was some risk in terms of getting an uneven germination.
“If there is a late break then the seed could sit in the ground a while and if you were to get an uneven germination you could find yourself with limited replacement options due to chemical plant-back risks,” Mr Craig said.
He said he was advising growers to plant short season varieties dry.
“That way if there is a late start the varieties are still suited by the season.”
Mr Craig said south-west NSW and Mallee farmers were cautiously optimistic about the year ahead in spite of a very dry start to 2018.
“There was a lot of frosting in the area which meant not all the 2017 rainfall was used up.
“In many areas there is a pretty good bank of subsoil moisture, it obviously needs some rain to wet up the surface, but it is there.”