“If you ask me today, we’re not planting any summer dryland crops.”
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This is the reality for farmers like James Pursehouse, despite the recent rain.
Breeza Station has received 36ml of rain since August, bringing the total up to 170ml for the year – a far cry from the property’s average annual rainfall of 650ml, and a world away from the flooding Breeza experienced in September 2016.
James said this week’s storms, which brought 8ml, have just “settled the dust for another week”.
“It’s a start but we’re a long way from having enough moisture yet for dryland [crops],” he said.
“It may not happen at the rate we’re going.
“It puts a bit of moisture in the top but it’s not enough to go deep.”
The Pursehouses would ordinarily be looking to plant dryland cotton, dryland corn and dryland sorghum but so far the soil profile is just not there.
“If we had four inches of rain now, that would be a good start but it definitely wouldn't be enough,” James said.
“We’ve considered corn or sorghum on irrigation fields but treated as a dryland crop, so that would involve sewing at a dryland rate and pre-watering and then it would be on its own.”
James said while feed grain prices were “very good at the minute”, it’s “something to weigh up closer to planting time”.
The Pursehouses can push on with irrigated cotton and corn but water restrictions can be an issue. Their cotton consultant John Nott said most farmers have to “reassess their areas” because their budgets have been cut back.
“It’s full steam ahead for all the irrigated stuff [but] the problem is we have a lot of short fallow summer crops on summer crops, which is going to drain resources, so all the water budgets are stretched fairly thin,” John said.
“If we can pick up two inches of rain and get all the soil to settle from last year and get it to pack down a bit, things will be looking a lot better.”
While uncertainty looms over cropping, the agronomist said the rain spells good news for graziers.
“If we can pick up an inch of rain in the next week or two, that will really give all the native pastures and improved pastures a good start,” he said.
