Autumn break 2022: Ideal start to Victoria cropping season with widespread rain

Farmers across Victoria are celebrating season-defining rain overnight with 40mm falling in places. See where the rain fell.

Farmers in southeast Australia’s major grain-growing regions have recorded an “on time and on budget” autumn break with good rain this week providing an ideal start to winter-cropping programs.

The rain, which exceeded initial forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology, arrived just days ahead of the traditional Anzac Day start to winter cropping programs, raising hopes of a good season despite record input costs.

In the Mallee and Wimmera, Swan Hill received 47mm in the 24 hours to 9am today, with Hopetoun picking up 44mm, Warracknabeal 34mm and Mildura and Charlton each measuring 27mm. In northern Victoria, Tatura picked up 43mm in the 24-hour period with Shepparton recording 40mm, Bendigo 38mm and Kyabram 37mm. National Farmers’ Federation vice president David Jochinke said he received 43mm of rain on his farm at Murra Warra, north of Horsham, in the 48 hours to this morning which he described as “on time and on budget”. “The Bureau was only forecasting showers a week out and each day came they added a few more millimetres, and we ended up overshooting the mark on what they were forecasting,” Mr Jochinke said. “It is perfect timing — this is a bit of a novelty for us because we are used to dry sowing. If anything we are going to delay sowing now just a touch so we get a good knockdown of weeds.”

Lawloit farmer Lewis Bothe was relieved when the rain started falling on his property yesterday, bringing 13mm – his highest daily total in a dry year so far.

“It’s been a bit of a blessing,” Mr Bothe said. “It’s been a dust bowl out in the paddock.”

By 9am today, the nearby weather station at Nhill had notched up 26.2mm over two days, enough to give cropping programs in the area a decent start.

Bungeet grain grower Jock Binnie said this week’s rain would “cement the rest of the program” after he began sowing canola into an already full soil moisture profile last week.

Addington agronomist and mixed farmer Charles Edmonston, who is halfway through his cropping program, said the 20mm he had received on his property yesterday had been “ideal”, but he would be hoping for a “top up” of 10-15mm in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile the west of the state is still waiting for an autumn break, with Hamilton in the Western District receiving an April total so far of just 4mm.

GrainGrowers Limited chairman Brett Hosking said, for large parts of the state, the rain was “really good start” to the season.

“Once we hit Anzac Day we’ll see a fair bit of (cropping) activity, certainly in the Mallee and down through the Wimmera,” said Mr Hosking, who recorded 45mm of rain on his farm at Quambatook overnight on Monday.

Mr Hosking said farmers would be facing “a big challenge” to yields this season with high fertiliser prices.

“If crops kick away out of the ground, growers are going to want to throw urea at those crops to try an capitalise on the season, (but) they’re going to be hit with a really, really high urea price, and some real challenges around availability and supply,” he said.

Some growers had been waiting to see if the season would deliver before they invested in expensive inputs, and may now have “a problem we have to deal with” Mr Hosking said.