Eyes on the forecast

Farmers across the state are cautiously watching the weather forecast this week, as wet weather threatens to interrupt harvest.

Farmers are cautiously watching the weather forecast this week with fears rain could disrupt harvest in some parts.

Alan Habel of Boolite in the Wimmera said it felt like rain was on the way if the current conditions were to be a guide.

He said farmers traditionally don’t like to say that they don’t want rain. Yet, he was about to start harvesting lentils this week, and wet weather wouldn’t be ideal.

“The forecast shows showers and thunderstorms to the east of us, but I think we will get some of that,” he said.

For him, the harvest would start with lentils and then move on to other winter crops throughout November.

He said there had been some damage in lentil crops from earlier frosts, so it would be interesting to see how they go.

Harvest in Victoria. Picture: Zoe Phillips

To the north at Moree, NSW, Oscar Pearse welcomed the rain and measured 7.5mm in the gauge at the weekend.

He said harvest had finished at his place on November 1, and there had been some hopes for enough rainfall to enable summer cropping.

“There were some good expectations from the forecasts about 10 days ago that enough rain would come our way,” he said.

As a result, he did apply some fertiliser to paddocks that weren’t planted for wheat this year.

Farmer Oscar Pearse on his property near Moree.

“We still have a chance of showers over the next five days or so,” he said.

“We would have loved to see widespread rain, enough to make summer cropping a possibility,” he said.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, there’s a good chance for up to 10mm to fall at Bendigo this week and the same at Geelong, with 5mm tipped for Mildura and up to 10mm at Sale.