Soil moisture the ticket to recovery despite dry outlook

Cropping farmers are looking forward to a productive season despite a drier outlook, with soil moisture at close to 100 per cent.

Cropping farmers are looking forward to a productive 2023-24 season despite a dry seasonal outlook.

With just weeks to go before the start of sowing, Agriculture Victoria’s monitoring network shows soil moisture at levels close to 100 per cent in paddocks from the Mallee to the Wimmera, Central Victoria and the state’s north east.

Agriculture Victoria seasonal agronomist Dale Boyd said the moisture could be landholders’ ticket to recovery in areas badly affected by flooding.

“Some of those areas that did get flooded, they’ve got soil types that are generally clays or heavier soil type. The heavier soil types have certainly held on to a large volume of soil water this year,” he said.

“In terms of agricultural recovery, that will certainly contribute.”

The key will be a “good solid break” to connect the drier top 15cm of soil with the wet root zone soil moisture, which is at depths of 30cm to 1m below the surface, he said.

The 2017 season could prove to be a useful guide for how this year will play out, Mr Boyd said.

After a wet 2016, many growers started the 2017 season with good soil moisture at depth and a drier seasonal outlook.

With just weeks to go before planting starts, soil moisture levels across Victoria are at close to 100 per cent, says Agriculture Victoria seasonal agronomist Dale Boyd. Picture: Dannika Bonser

At Brim, in the Wimmera, soil moisture levels that started the 2017 year at 100 per cent got one decent rainfall in May, and were still at 100 per cent in August. By October, the moisture had dried out to finish the crops, Mr Boyd said.

But he cautioned there was variation across the state. Paddocks in the Mallee started 2017 with about 70 per cent moisture, compared to 100 per cent this season.

At Sebastopol in southern NSW, Bruce Thompson said he was happy with how the season was progressing before winter sowing.

“We have had a traditional dry season in the late summer and autumn,” he said.

Mr Thompson aimed to start sowing during the first week of April, and said his start date tended to be decided by the calendar rather than waiting for a seasonal break.

After the late 2022 harvest, there had been a race against the clock to complete summer weed control and ground preparation for 2023 planting.

He plans to sow wheat, canola, barley and legumes. He said the legumes were added to the rotation to help with weed control.

Despite a dry climatic outlook, rain has been forecast for parts of Victoria and southern NSW this week.