Marathon harvest stretches into February

It is the season that just won’t stop. Some Victorian growers will be starting their 2023 program without a break as harvest stretches into February.

Some Victorian growers are facing the prospect of no break between seasons as a marathon 2022-23 harvest stretches into February.

After a year of record rainfall, Glenlee wheat, barley, lentil, bean and canola grower Rebekah Reichenback said she was harvesting the final paddock of wheat on her family property on Monday but still had 560ha of straw to cut and bale.

“Normally, we would be finished grain harvest around Christmas and starting on straw. This year we’ll still be doing straw until the end of February. It doesn’t leave a whole lot of time (to prepare for next season),” she said.

In a typical year, Ms Reichenback, who farms with her father and brother, would have a chance to take a small break and work on farm maintenance jobs, but that won’t be possible this year.

“We’ll have one and a half months to get ready for cropping, and there is a lot of summer spraying to do thanks to the wet weather. There’s no time for fencing and cleaning up.”

The thought of not having a break before the start of next season was “exhausting”, she said.

“We’ve been getting up early to rake and bale hay, then sitting on the header until the evening. You’re running on empty and have to keep going, but that’s just farming.”

The Reichenback family wasn’t alone in their-late season finish. The Weekly Times spoke to growers across the Wimmera and the state’s south west who were still inching toward the harvest finish line this week.

Victorian growers are still delivering grain into sites across the Wimmera, Geelong and Western District, weeks after many would have normally finished harvest. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Yanac South cereal and legume grower Kim Croot said on Monday he had 15 to 20 per cent of his 1100ha planted area left to harvest, weeks later than his normal finish date of late December.

“Everything has been hard this year. Breakdowns cost us eight to 10 days, cropping was hard, spraying and urea was hard, and we couldn’t get onto our legumes to dessicate.”

He said not having a chance to take a break between seasons would be challenging, and it was important for farmers to check in on each other.

“People need to be aware that mental health (issues) are closer to home than what everyone realises.

“People need to ask ‘are you OK?’ and follow through with it.”

Wimmera grains farmer David Jochinke said farmers who had finished harvest had already “pressed the go button” to prepare for sowing with many at least a month behind in their programs.

“There is a lot to be done,” the National Farmers’ Federation deputy president said.

“The shoulder is against the wheel to get all the jobs done before we run out of time.”

National Farmers Federation vice president David Jochinke says many growers will start the 2023 cropping season without a break. Picture: Supplied

He said those tasks ranged from general maintenance to ameliorating paddocks damaged due to recent extreme, such as renovating wheel tracks left after applying fungicides in muddy paddocks and fixing hard barked bog ruts, to ensure even chemical spread.

He said some farmers who miss the sowing window will modify rotations and varieties, while he has also been told some chemical mixes will be in short supply this sowing.

Bulk handler GrainCorp said in a statement Victorian growers were still delivering grain into sites across the Wimmera, Geelong and Western District regions as total receivals across the state reached 3.8 million tonnes.