Riverina farmers lease water to insulate their business from poor water allocations
Leasing water instead of buying it has boosted the bottom line for Riverina farmers Peter and Renee Burke.
GOING against the grain comes naturally for NSW Riverina farmers Peter and Renee Burke.
While the couple from Jerilderie hold just 28 water entitlements and 3950 delivery water entitlements, they will produce 6000 tonnes of grain and 8000 bales of hay and straw off their 1282ha irrigation farm in 12 months.
Instead of buying permanent water, they lease it and with the onus being on the seller to provide it, have insulated their business from the poor water allocations in the Murray Valley over the past few years.
The strategy has been a success in more ways than one.
They grow full potential crops in drought years when commodity prices are high, maximising the returns from the five farms they operate.
And they have secured enough leased water to be able to market some to other irrigators, which can be sold to bring down the overall cost of water to the business.
Last season, the cost of water they used came back to less than 90 per cent of the average cost of temporary transfer water and they sold their crops into a market where prices were at near-record levels.
The couple grow just three crops — oats, barley and rice.
In years where water allocations are high, and the potential income from onselling some of their leased water is less, they will grow up to 700ha of rice.
But in tight water allocation years, like the past two, they will boost the area of cereals and grow less rice, allowing more of the leased water to sell and add valuable income to their business.
PETER AND RENEE BURKE
JERILDERIE, NSW
GROW oats, barley and rice on 1282ha
PRODUCE about 6000 tonnes of grain and 8000 bales of hay and straw in a year
HOLD just 28 water entitlements and 3950 delivery water entitlements
NAMED the 2019 Ricegrowers of the Year
MIX MASTERS
THIS year, that business strategy has played out in 720ha of oats, 350ha of barley and they have just sown 80ha of rice.
Peter and Renee have found that sowing oats after a rice crop offers the best gross margins, despite many others in the district choosing wheat as the follow-up crop.
“We found that there is phosphorus tie-up after a rice crop, but the oats seem to be able to cope with this better than other cereals and produce higher yields,” Peter said.
“There has also been a lift in demand for oats in the past eight to 10 years so there really is more demand than can be supplied.”
Oats fits well with the rice rotation. Rice is harvested in April/May, and this year the straw was baled due to demand for roughage due to the drought.
The oat crop is sown straight into the paddock once stubble is baled, using the leftover water in the soil profile.
Despite the dry winter and spring, this year’s oat crops of Bannister, Matika and Kowari are expected to yield up to six tonnes a hectare, with just one watering for most of the crops.
The ability to use the leftover soil moisture from the rice crop combined with one watering has produced a high-quality oat crop that is destined for a premium market — porridge.
“We aim to produce the best crops we can and these oats will go into the Red Box (porridge),” Peter said.
“When we grow an oat crop, or any crop, we are all about quality and yield.”
REAP THE REWARDS
THE barley crops have also received just one water, and will be harvested and sold later on.
Peter said barley was a classic crop, where prices dipped during harvest, but then usually rose, so the selling strategy took this into consideration.
Producing such high yielding crops takes certainty in water allocation, which the couple have secured, but it also takes careful soil management.
Each paddock is soil tested once every two years and Peter said they were generous in feeding the soils with nutrients.
The whole farm will receive four tonnes a hectare of lime either this year or next, and soil tests are showing that the land they farm is getting better and better.
“We bought our first farm 20 years ago and soil tested from the start, and we don’t skimp on anything when it comes to feeding those soils,” Peter said.
“If the recommendation is for 100kg of MAP, we will put on 150kg.
“We know we have the soil moisture so that won’t be the limiting factor in producing a crop so we need to get the mix right with soils and chemicals to maximise the yields.”
Peter has also found what he believes is a winning formula for nitrogen application in growing oats after rice.
Rather than waiting until his crop shows signs of needing extra nitrogen, he applies it once the crop is up and established, usually about a month after sowing.
“We have found that to maximise yields and quality, you always want that crop looking healthy and it doesn’t get a check (in growth),” Peter said.
FLEXIBILITY IS KEY
WHILE the Burkes have a tight rotation program, they are also willing to be flexible.
In 2016, a high-water allocation year, they decided to grow 700ha of rice, but had planted large areas of barley and oats so had no country left out or prepared for rice.
This took into consideration the fact that they would receive less for marketing any surplus water they had.
The oat and barley crops would not be harvested early enough for the rice to be able to be planted so Peter started thinking about options.
In a brave move, he decided to windrow his oat and barley crops so they could be harvested in time to allow rice to be planted.
“I thought it was an option so I googled it,” he said.
“There was information there that said it could be done so we decided to do it.
“Most sensible people would try with a small area, but we decided to do it all.”
On the advice from google, Peter windrowed the oats and barley when the moisture level was at 20 per cent, and then harvested those windrows when the moisture was back to 12 per cent.
“I am pretty sure a lot of people were watching what we did and we lost no yield or quality and were able to get those 700ha of rice in,” he said.
A similar flexible approach was applied this year when Peter and Renee saw a burgeoning demand for hay.
They cut 80ha of the 720ha of oats they had sown as hay, yielding six tonnes a hectare or 11.5 bales.
It meant they had nearly 1000 big square bales of oaten hay to sell, hitting a market desperate for roughage.
This will be sold alongside all their straw, which will be baled after the rest of the oats and barley are harvested in a month.
OWN THE MOMENT
JUGGLING the demands of summer and winter crops requires manpower and equipment, but Peter and Renee have determined they will buy their own machinery rather than rely on contractors.
“We have a lot of gear, but it means that we can run this property with just Renee and a farm worker and myself,” Peter said.
“We have things like a self- propelled spray unit, which means we can cover 100ha in a couple of hours, which is efficient.
“We can also carry out everything we need to do when it needs to be done, as timeliness is vital in a cropping operation.”
The couple were early adopters of variable rate fertilising and GPS technology, and will continue to collect as much information as they can on the performance of their crops including yield mapping.
While not using this information to its fullest yet, they are determined to keep records, knowing that down the track it could be vital to making their farms even more efficient.
The skill with which the Burkes run their operation was recognised this year when they won the 2019 Ricegrower of the Year award.
It was significant for the couple, who love growing all their crops, but especially rice.
“We have grown up to 7500 tonnes of rice some years and we have not been tempted to grow cotton instead,” Peter said.
“All of the paddocks on all of our farms have the capacity to grow rice, in terms of layout and soil types.
“We know people who have gone the other way and into cotton but we are comfortable where we are.
“We are growing rice and lowering our input costs (water) and doing things we can control. It’s a recipe that is working well financially so why change for the sake of it.”
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