Dusty wait for rain in Victoria and NSW

OPTIMISTIC farmers are sowing seed into thousands of hectares of dusty soil in the hope the season will break soon.

Dusty start: Dry sowing comes with its dusty hazards as vetch is planted on this paddock near Lalbert. Picture: Brenton Cunning.

OPTIMISTIC farmers are sowing seed into thousands of hectares of dusty soil in the hope the season will break soon.

Monday is Anzac Day, which marks the unofficial start of the winter cropping program.

With farmers across NSW looking to start sowing their winter crops, the above average temperatures and lack of rain doesn’t look good for soil moisture.

And with minimal rain falling across large swathes of the Victoria’s grains belt this month, following a generally drier February and March, farmers are looking to the skies for much-needed relief.

But most say, with wetter-than-­average La Nina conditions forecast for later in the year, they are more confident about the season than last year when drier El Nino conditions savaged crop yields across parts of Victoria.

Victorian Farmers Federation grains group president Brett Hosking this week said while some farmers had already begun planting their crops, activity was expected to ramp up in the next fortnight.

He said while much of the state was suffering from dry conditions, weakening El Nino conditions meant the forecast was more positive and the situation was “certainly not desperate”.

“I think most growers will be looking for well in excess of the inch, possibly around the 30-40mm mark to really get things off to a good start,” Mr Hosking said.

Mr Hosking said although his property at Quambatook, in northern Victoria, had enjoyed a good start to the year with up to 100mm of rain in January, “I haven’t had a cracker since”.

Rainfall figures for the past three months show most areas of Victoria and southern NSW have received below-average rain. Mildura has received just 1mm of rain since the start of February — or about 2 per cent of its three-month average.

Hay, in the Riverina, has recorded just 4mm, or 5 per cent of its February-April average.

On the other hand, good rain during March at Nhill, in the Wimmera, has pushed its three-monthly total to 52.2mm against an average of 46.5mm.

Ron Hards, from Yarrara in the Mallee, said there was hardly any moisture left in the soil from the early season rain.

“Everyone needs a rain badly, and everything seems to be pointing to the end of the month, early May before we can expect it,” he said.

North West Ag Service’s Ouyen branch manager Phil Eames said farmers had begun sowing vetch, lupins and oats but there was “nothing underneath” in terms of soil moisture. “It is bone dry,” Mr Eames said.

Birchip Cropping Group chief executive Chris Souness said croppers were “planning for a full program” and while the forecast La Nina “does put the odds in favour” of a better season for producers, “it doesn’t guarantee you walk out a winner”.

Wayne Adler started sowing beans into a dry profile on his farm at Coromby, near Murtoa in the Wimmera, on Monday and said everyone was “holding their breath in anticipation of this rain”.

“(But) I’m reasonably positive we will get some good rain through winter,” he said.

It is a tale of two extremes in Gippsland, with the growing season well underway in the east but stuck in neutral in the south.

“We definitely need a kick along soon,” Ian McCauley from Staceys Bridge near Yarram said.

Trevor Caithness from Bairnsdale said the area was the envy of the state. “We consider we have already had our break,” he said.

Parts of southern NSW and Victoria’s North East are also feeling the pinch.

Barooga farmer John Bruce, who will start planting canola today, said conditions were “bloody dry”.

“It may mean we have to switch from some canola to barley, but I haven’t pulled the trigger on that yet,” he said.

In the NSW Riverina, Landmark Hay’s Geoff McDougall said the season had cut out.

After an above-average 33mm in January, Hay received just 3.2mm in February, 0.6mm in March and 0.2mm so far this month.

“We need a rain now to get things going — a few of the early lambers are certainly looking for it,” Mr McDougall said.

Perennial Pasture Systems project manager Rob Shea from Ararat said farmers in western Victoria “just wanted to get on with” the season.

“People who are carting water or feeding stock are just sick of it,” Mr Shea said.

Some rain is forecast for parts of East Gippsland today.

All of NSW has recorded below average rainfall so far this month.

Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Agata Imielska said April so far had been dry right across NSW and temperatures had been warmer than normal.

“Even those areas with rainfall, the higher temperatures haven’t helped conserve soil moisture,” Ms Imielska said.

Rainfall data for the past three months (January to March), show northern NSW, Central West and far Central and north west recorded below average rain with only small patches around Dubbo, Walgett, Cooma and Wagga Wagga recording average rain.

NSW Farmers grains committee chair Dan Cooper from Pullabooka, north east of West Wyalong, said across the state it was “very dry” with some pockets of moisture.

Mr Cooper said he would start dry sowing canola next week and he expected other farmers in the area would be doing the same.

“Traditionally we don’t have wet autumns, so it’s not surprising, it is just frustrating we haven’t had that autumn break to take the pressure off,” Mr Cooper said.

Still six days off Anzac Day — the traditional start of sowing — Mr Cooper said cropping programs would stay as planned, unless the season still looked dry at the start of May, then he would look at changing his cropping regimen.

“We traditionally get a lot of dry autumns and wet springs, and there is no El Nino forecast, so that is a good thing.”

Michael O’Brien from Come By Chance, southeast of Walgett, in northwest NSW, said there were two different seasons in the district.

“Some farmers east and north of Walgett caught some summer rain, so they have some subsoil moisture, but those in the southern and south west areas are still in the state of drought they have been for the past three to four years,” Mr O’Brien said.

“There are thousands of acres that won’t have a crop planted on it for the fourth year in a row,” he said.