We crop around 2500ha on predominately sandy loam soils, with an average rainfall of around 320mm. Year to date we have had approximately 300mm. Over winter it was quite dry for us, with a lot of small 2-3mm rain events, from the end of May it took 81 days to record an event greater than 5mm. Even with the recent heavy rainfalls due to our free draining soil, we are in a good place at present. We are likely to grow the best yields the farm has ever produced this season. The wheat, barley lupins and lentils are all doing exceptionally well.
This was the first year in a long time I didn’t sow with flutriafol on the fertiliser due to logistics and timing; however, we did apply up to three fungicide applications to the crops. The disease pressure for us was low, maybe due to the dry winter period. The insect pressure was also low, which may have been due to a longer cool period in the growing season.
At present, the vetch hay and oaten hay are windrowed but have had 60+mm of rain on them. I am hoping the weather allows us to get the hay in over the next three weeks otherwise it will not be ideal trying to finish the hay and start harvesting. Overall, I feel reasonably prepared for harvest with workers and contractors all lined up.
I also work as an agronomist, between this and our farm there has been a lot of lessons learnt this year. The expense of growing crops has been greater than any other year. The one thing which was apparent was those who stuck to a plan have been in the best shape to capitalise on opportunities which arose.
Photo courtesy of: Laura Poyner