Cropping 2023: Wet June creates ‘perfect season so far’

Farmers are ready for strong crops this year after widespread June rain made this season look “more like a La Nina than an El Nino”.

Victorian crop growers have had above-average rainfall in June. Photo: Zoe Phillips

An unexpectedly wet June has topped up soil moisture profiles across Victoria and southern NSW, setting farmers up for a strong cropping season.

Northwest and north central Victoria received more than twice their average June rainfall, while Gippsland recorded below-average totals.

The biggest falls were recorded in Shepparton, which received 118mm for the month — close to three times its monthly average.

Ararat was close behind, with 113mm, followed by Bendigo with 110mm, while Mildura notched up a whopping 356 per cent of its average June rainfall with 80mm.

In Southern NSW, Deniliquin notched up 58mm for the month, Hay 64mm and Albury 91mm.

Victorian Farmers Federation grains council president Craig Henderson said farmers had been “gearing themselves for a tough run” this season, but the last five weeks had turned their fortunes around.

“Basically it has been a perfect season so far,” he said.

July 5 The Weekly Times rainfall map.

Mr Henderson, who farms near Berriwillock, said the rain on his property had been enough to fill his soil moisture profile, and the wet weather was continuing into the start of July, with 12mm overnight on Monday and rain continuing on Tuesday.

“We can stand a bit of a drier spring because we’ve got a full subsoil profile,” he said.

“We could have a below-average rainfall from now on and still obtain average yields.”

Grain Producers Australia southern region director Andrew Weidemann said the season was “looking more like a La Nina than an El Nino” in Victoria after June’s rain.

Some regions, like the state’s Western District, were edging towards being “too wet”, with “some level of crop damage occurring in some of the more acid soils that are prone to water logging”, he said.

But further north, growers in northern NSW had missed much of the rain, and some had now missed their planting window for the season, he said.

In Moree, just 28mm fell in June, below the region’s average and hot on the heels of an even drier April and May. Further east, Narrabri recovered slightly from a dry start to the season, with an above average 54mm in June.

Mr Weidemann said he was expecting the weather to become drier in spring, in line with climate models.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast drier and warmer conditions over the coming months, with models predicting an El Nino climate pattern will set in by Spring and last at least six months.