Erosion builds onto woes
Victorian grain crops struggling to develop
SOIL erosion is causing crop casualties in an already tough season for growers in Victoria’s grain growing regions.
Simon Craig, an independent consultant who farms a 6000ha broadacre operation at Kooloonong in northwest Victoria, said strong winds have hit already vulnerable crops.
“They’re getting that sandblasted look,” Mr Craig said.
“Crops have also picked up moisture stress and nutrient deficiencies. Those crops are now having poor root growth, and above-ground conditions are preventing them to getting into the subsoil moisture.
“The big concern is the amount of cold weather and extreme wind that’s going to mean a lot of those soils, particularly the sandy soils, will be prone to erosion for the next 12 months.”
A recent Agriculture Victoria report showed rainfall of less than 25mm in July across north and north-west Victoria has restricted crop growth, with large parts of the grain growing regions showing no improvement to subsoil
❝The big concern is the amount of cold weather and extreme wind... — Simon Craig
moisture levels.
Ongoing dry conditions, couple with high winds, has seen emerging crops struggle to reach moisture deep in the soil, according to Mr Craig.
“A lot of those Mallee soils, they’ve got a lot of subsoil moisture. So growers sowed quite early and dry; they sowed a lot of country,” he said.
“For the last two to three weeks, we’ve had winds of about 45-50km/h and, combined with a couple of frosts, that’s just added greater stress to those crops.
“When you combine cold weather with an emerging crop, quite often the crop growth is very slow. There’s no vigorous root system. Unless we can get a big rain to link up that moisture below and wash in nutrients, growers will struggle to capture that moisture.”
Mr Craig said the problem wasn’t only affecting the Wimmera and the Mallee.
He said some crops in northern parts of the state, such as near his family farm in Kooloonong, could fail to get a crop up this season.
“We’re a more northern part of Victoria, and not representative of the whole state, but certainly a lot of growers have had concerns regarding sandy soils and the lack of rain,” Mr Craig said.
“Crops in that area I think would yield between zero to 1.2 tonnes a hectare. An average year would be about 2 to 2.3 tonne a hectare. We should have been able to get about 1.5, but lack of rainfall has reduced that. It’s turning into a real shocker of a season for certain areas.”
If present conditions carry on into August, Mr Craig said maturity and yield for many crops could be limited.
“Barley is getting pretty close to being done and dusted. If we get a normal Mallee spring - hot and dry we could find yield affected, which would be a real shame. We just need a decent rain.”
“We’ve got the moisture, we just can’t use it. Mallee farmers are quite resilient, we’ll certainly find a way.