Urea trucks travelling huge distances

The race against time to apply urea in southern NSW and Victoria means trucks are travelling from as far as Townsville. See just how far they’re going.

Truckloads of urea are clocking up thousands of kilometres to reach far-flung destinations as farmers race the clock to apply the much-needed input.

Without urea, Victorian and southern NSW cropping farmers estimate yield losses from winter crops of 20 to 50 per cent.

And with more rain forecast this week, there’s an urgency to start spreading.

Bryan Trethowan of Churinga at Walbundrie in southern NSW said a truckload of urea from Brisbane arrived at his property on Saturday.

And last week, he successfully ordered urea from Townsville – a journey of about 2200km.

The Weekly Times cartoonist Chris Rule’s observation on the situation.

Mr Trethowan said if he had not been able to get trucks, he was prepared to make the drive to Queensland himself and bring urea back to southern NSW.

“Urea is hard to get, and some people are getting looked after better than others,” he said.

He paid about $800 a tonne for the urea, plus about $150 a tonne in freight, but he’s confident the extra crop yields once nitrogen is applied will make up for the difference and logistical juggling.

“Earlier this year, we did get some for $630 a tonne at sowing,” he said.

A farmer applies urea to a crop of wheat before the rain arrives.

His property currently has 1000ha of wheat, 800ha of canola, 200h of faba beans and 200ha of barley.

“We have a tractor with tracks; we will start spreading straight away,” Mr Threthowan said.

He said the way the season was shaping up reasonably well, and the wheat, once urea was applied, would probably yield five tonnes/ha.

“Without urea, we were looking at 3.5 tonnes/ha,” he said.

Grain Producers Australia southern region director Andrew Weidemann from Rupanyup said urea had landed at Geelong Port in recent weeks.

But he was aware of people paying freight to transport urea vast distances as they raced to get it applied to optimise timing and rainfall.

Grain Producers Australia southern region director Andrew Weidemann.

“Supply is starting to catch up slightly with demand,” he said.

He said prices ranged from $700/tonne to more than $800/tonne.

“I don’t see the $800/tonne as a long-term figure,” he said.

For now, the timing was critical. There was still a window for spreading urea on wheat crops, but it was a race against time for canola.

“I farm in the Wimmera, and that window for applying urea will close in the next 10 days to a fortnight,” he said.

On a positive note, he said urea prices were nowhere near the levels of $1200/tonne quoted last year.