Frost damage could have been worse, says climate specialist

FROST events across Victoria’s cropping regions over the past month could have been much worse for crop productivity this season.

Frost damage: Many crops are now out of the vulnerable stage as they start to mature. Picture: Kelly Angel.

FROSTS across the state’s cropping regions over the past month could have been much worse for productivity this season.

Agriculture Victoria climate specialist Dale Grey said many crops were now out of the vulnerable stage as they rapidly started to mature.

“Fortunately the frost we’ve had ... certainly it’s caused some issues in the very low-lying areas, and last week we had some more frosts, but they were quite light and didn’t do too much damage at all,” he said.

“The frost damage is no where near as bad as last year.”

Rain across the state early last week will give some crops a boost before harvest.

“Mainly the Mallee is in full-swing barley harvest, and rainfall there last week was fortunately low enough to not be much of an issue, only 1-2mm,” Mr Grey said.

“In the southwest, they got about 15mm or more, which is really good to finish their crops off, and that’s just what they needed.

“They really need frequent rain in November to finish crops off. The North East is a bit of a mixed bag, and north central area had nothing either. The North East had about 10-20mm of rain.”

Mr Grey said in the past week he had observed many wheat crops he believed could benefit from additional rain, “but only just”.

“The majority are not likely to benefit,” he said.

“Interestingly, particularly north of the divide there had been a lot of hay on the ground in October, and it was taking a long time to be baled up. Conditions for baling have been surprisingly good, compared to last year ... the moisture content has to be just right.

“It’s been a little cool at night, there’s been moisture in the air, and a little bit of rain has meant baling has been able to go throughout the day. A lot of hay has been baled up, particularly in the North East, and a significant portion of that is off the paddock and gone.”

The decision to cut cereal crops for hay was based on a number of factors, he said.

“Frost is one, the other is the amount of dollars sitting there in hay,” Mr Grey said.

“About seven to eight tonnes of hay to the hectare ... that’s good money in any language.”