Subsoil moisture holds out for winter sowing

Greg Brown has made good progress in sowing crops at Kotupna in northern Victoria, with about three-quarters of planting complete.

Greg Brown sowing wheat on farm at Kotupna. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Greg Brown has made good progress in sowing crops at Kotupna in northern Victoria, with about three-quarters of planting complete.

He runs an irrigated and dryland cropping operation that also incorporates sheep.

The program includes 3850ha of winter crops, including lentils, canola, wheat, barley faba beans and vetch.

He said canola had already emerged in some of the irrigated country, but it had yet to emerge in the dryland area.

“The window is still wide open for a break here, and we have subsoil moisture,” he said.

Greg said he had no problem sowing crops dry, and the program worked well.

“We enjoy sowing in dry conditions because it makes things really easy,” he said.

This week, he was sowing Scepter Wheat, which is a hard white variety.