Queensland farmers have welcomed widespread rain in grain growing regions of the state and are forecasting a good winter crop thanks to replenished soil moisture.
AgForce Grains president and Millmerran farmer Lyndon Pfeffer said the rain was a long time coming and although some mature crops will suffer quality issues from too much moisture, the late summer crops are benefiting from the seasonal boost.
“Finally, widespread rains have fallen across central, south and western grain growing regions to fill in the gaps for most places that missed the early storms in December and January,” Mr Pfeffer said.
“Farmers are now more positive moving into the winter planting. However, the late summer crops could still have insect pressures such as midge and heliothis as well as diseases such as ergot and hopefully we can escape these issues without too much cost to the industry.”
Mr Pfeffer and grain growers from across the state who sit on the AgForce Grains board have just finished a run of meetings in Central Queensland, where the season topped the agenda along with concerns about transport and grain storage infrastructure.
“With farmers across Queensland looking down the barrel of a bumper winter crop, the industry needs the security of adequate storage and efficient transport systems to move grain off-farm to port,” Mr Pfeffer said.
“AgForce Grains has secured a commitment from GrainCorp to upgrade the weighbridge at Capella. GrainCorp have also advised that due to their take or pay agreement with QR they will be trying to get every bit of grain on rail that they can, which will hopefully reduce the amount of trucks on the road this harvest.”
In a regional breakdown, AgForce Grains director and Dalby grower Wayne Newton said cropping on the Darling Downs had received a terrific boost from the wet season.
“The recent monsoonal depression has given the northern Downs falls of between 125mm to more than 250mm, which has filled sub-soil moisture reserves and will stand growers in good stead for this winter crop and even the next summer crop,” Mr Newton said.
He said the main sorghum crop harvest was just getting underway but will now be held up for a couple of weeks because of accessibility issues with the wet. The mungbean crops look good but there may be some damage to both crops if the wet weather continues for too long.
In south west and western areas, farmers are facing transport restrictions from flood damaged roads and will also be busy on-farm repairing damage to cultivations in preparation for the upcoming wheat planting.
South east and central downs farmers are rejoicing after the first steady soaking rain in a long time.
The Burnett has enjoyed widespread falls over the last month, ensuring good inflows into major dams on the irrigation system. Most crops in this region were planted late, so will benefit from the rain.
The season has also taken a positive turn for central Queensland growers, where Jambin farmer Selwyn Schmidt summed it up as: “beautiful soaking rain – what a difference it makes after such a dry spell”.
Mr Schmidt said sorghum planted in January is now flowering and mungbeans are setting pods. These crops have benefited the most from the recent rain and now need some sunshine to stimulate plant growth.
“With the summer planting window now closed, managing weeds and preparing for winter crop is where growers will turn their focus,” Mr Schmidt said.
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