The majority of the nation's croppers have now at least got a start on the 2024 sowing program, despite the generally dry autumn across the country.
It marks a major change in cropping systems over the past decade or so with farmers increasingly comfortable with planting dry.
However, the same concerns that used to see farmers wait until a break remain in some format, such as receiving some inadequate rainfall that is enough to germinate the seed, but not enough to sustain the fledgling plant.
Farmers also have to take a punt with variety choice, knowing that a long season variety will be better suited if the rain arrives soon after planting but that if there is a delay in the break then they would be best off planting a short season variety.
This year the vast majority of the WA crop is being planted into no moisture, while in Victoria and South Australia there have been small patches with enough rain to germinate crops but most are generally dry sowing, albeit with good subsoil moisture levels.
In NSW it is a mixed bag, with some areas having sufficient moisture to germinate crop and other farmers still dry sowing, while in Queensland farmers are cooling their jets throughout the southern cropping belt with too much of a good thing and flooding rain.
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), together with CSIRO is running a project looking into eliminating the risk of dry sowing.
In particular, project leader Kenton Porker, CSIRO, said the research was looking at canola.
Canola is seen as a riskier option by some farmers because of the high cost of seed, its small seed size which means it has less energy to continue to grow after a dry spell than larger seeded crops, as well as the fact it is planted shallower.
Dr Porker, based at the Waite Institute in Adelaide, said there was no one size fits all formula, but said a few key considerations could help farmers ensure they get a solid germination.
"It is a tough one as everyone wants to plant earlier to maximise opportunities but equally that can be when seedbed conditions are least favourable."
However, he said an understanding of the plant's requirements could help.
"Canola can come up on markedly less rainfall on sandier soils, so farmers need to be aware of their soil types when making decisions," he said.
"We also see that sowing deeper can reduce emergence on the heavier soils, so on clays and the like it is best to look at shallow depths to get the most plant numbers up."
There are downsides, however.
Dr Porker cautioned shallow planting brought soil temperatures into play.
"A lot of canola is now being planted in early autumn where it can still be quite hot and the soil surface temperature can be hotter again, up to 20 degrees warmer than the air temperature so farmers need to know what their soil temperatures are doing and make sure they don't plant into temperatures that make it tough for the plant."
Dr Porker said much of the work being undertaken for canola was applicable for other major crops, although cereals can be planted deeper.
He said breeding research into long coleoptile wheat and long hypocotyl canola could have real benefits for dry sowers.
"The long hypocotyl canola lines from overseas have stronger early vigour and GRDC research is looking at what they could do in terms of helping improving establishment."
In spite of the risks Dr Porker said dry sowing provided good opportunities, particularly in canola.
"There is limited data but it appears yield responses in canola are more closely linked to time of emergence than plant density, meaning getting a less than perfect early germination is better than waiting for more suitable conditions and getting more plant numbers."
"We're seeing crop come up on very small rain events in some circumstances and the fears about the 'false break' don't appear to be an issue so it definitely appears dry sowing to get crop up early has merit."
WA farmer and chairman of the WA Grains Group (WAGG) Alastair Falconer said farmers in the west were comfortable planting dry even though there had been little rain for nine months and most areas had extremely low subsoil moisture.
"It is pretty standard practice, the proportion people are comfortable putting in dry has grown, it obviously helps logistically getting over big areas but it also generally seems to perform well in terms of yield," Mr Falconer, who farms at Coorow in the state's mid west, said.
However, he said as the weeks went by there would be a swing out of canola.
"You want to get canola out of the ground as early as possible and if we do get a late autumn break, as can happen, people may decide they are better off switching to crops more suited to a short season."