NSW Farmers Joyously Celebrate their Spring Goods

Article by: Hari Yellina

Farmers are enjoying a perfectly timed autumn break, according to an agricultural market analyst, and Victorians may be experiencing a once-in-a-century series of good crops. Many farmers have experienced three seasons that have been substantially above average, according to Andrew Whitelaw of Thomas Elder Markets, something that hasn’t happened since the early 1920s. Farmers are in for a nice season, he said, thanks to the recent weather. Mr Whitelaw claims that farming hasn’t had a run of strong seasons like this since the 1920s. “Victoria has been suffering from a severe lack of soil moisture, and this recent rainfall has really helped to alleviate that,” Mr Whitelaw said. Mr Whitelaw believes it will enable Australia to contribute to the world wheat supply.

“We have a lot of concerns throughout the world,” he explained, “which is leading the world wheat prices to climb.” “China is having a tough time with its winter wheat crop, and the worldwide market is quite tight, so if we can produce a decent crop and sell into this high-priced [market], that’ll be fantastic.” Grain producers in north-west and central Victoria are confident about the upcoming season in 2022, thanks to timely rain that has provided an autumn respite. On Monday night and Tuesday, 30 millimetres of rain fell throughout most of Ron Hards’ farm in Meringur, in far north-west Victoria.

Some farms in the Millewa had gauges with up to 50-60mm in them, he said. Mr Hards stated, “It’s certainly the best general rain we’ve seen in a long time.” “Everything is quite saturated, so we won’t be able to get anything done for a day or two.” Prior to the rain, Mr Hards had already planted all of his vetch and a couple of paddocks of lentils. In the coming weeks, he will also seed oats and barley. He’d already considered changing his plans to avoid frost damage and ensuring that it wouldn’t all have to be harvested at once. “We were expecting to sow some more lentils this week, but now that we’ve had rain, everything’s going to come up, and it’s probably just a tad early for some of it,” Mr Hards explained.

Andrew Weidemann, of Rupanyup in the Wimmera, recorded 54mm on his land. In comparison to last season, this is a big improvement. “Until June 14th, we were completely dry. Everything had been seeded completely dry “Mr. Weidemann expressed his thoughts. He wasn’t in a rush to start sowing, though. His first aim will be to eliminate weeds that grow as a result of rain. “We don’t want the entire crop to come up in April because of the potential of frost later in the year,” says the farmer. Farmers are also grappling with increased fuel and fertiliser expenses this season. “In our case, we’re probably looking at a 75-80% increase in fertiliser inputs on top of our typical programme, and mechanical will be similar,” he said. “We’re keeping quite a bit of chemical since we looked at the circumstances last year in September and October and ahead purchased a lot of our input expenses ourselves,” says the company.