Winter crops thrive for Brett and Illona McEwan at Inglewood

Brett and Illona McEwan from Inglewood consider themselves to be in a lucky pocket after recording 18mm of recent rain.

Winter crops at Inglewood in central Victoria are bucking the trend of a tough season and have benefited from handy in-crop rainfall.

Inglewood farmers Brett and Illona McEwan grow canola, wheat, barley and oats and consider themselves fortunate this season due to the reliable rainfall the area has had.

The oats grown on their property are ultimately cut to produce export hay in the exclusively cropping operation.

In the past week, they have received 18mm of rain, and in the past three months, the district has recorded a beneficial 114mm.

“We are really happy with how the season is going,” Brett said.

However, he conceded that a hailstorm about a week ago might have created some damage.

He said it was now a matter of wait-and-see to assess how the crops were holding up after that weather event.

Brett McEwan of Inglewood took some time out to do some maintenance. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Brett said there were areas of Victoria that had not experienced such good conditions, but the crops in his district were looking good.

“We are in a small pocket where farmers have received good rain and crops look good; we can’t complain much at all in this area,” he said.

“Our only complaint so far is the staggered germination in canola, but everything else is good,” he said.

Brett said the wheat was looking excellent for this stage of the growing season and barley was looking good too.

“We are hoping for some more rain throughout August and September to finish the crops,” he said.

Brett said he was happy with the oat crops, and they had about five weeks to bulk up before being cut for hay.

He said prices had been a bit lacklustre of late. However, he would wait until harvest and hope to see a turnaround.