Rain brings renewed confidence
National agriculture leaders based in the Wimmera are confident consistent rain and high commodity prices might lead to promising results at harvest time for regional grain producers.
Grain Producers Australia chairman and Rupanyup farmer Andrew Weidemann said market demand and recent rain in the Wimmera was boosting farmer confidence.
National Farmers Federation vice-president David Jochinke, who runs a mixed grain and livestock farm in Murra Warra, said confidence in the region’s grains industry was increasing producers’ ability to invest more on their farming operations.
Mr Weidemann, who farms canola, beans, lentils, barley and wheat, said his farm received 100 millimetres of rain since late May, which followed a drier than average start to the cropping season.
“We’re probably exceeding expectations because we had such a dry period from the start of February, where we sowed a lot of our crops dry,” he said.
“Some crops like beans were sown dry and for a while weren’t showing as much vigour as they normally would, but generally speaking everything has been pretty good.
“I might see the odd paddock with weeds and insect issues, but we also haven’t seen a mice issue that we’ve seen in past years.”
The Bureau of Meteorology, BOM, recorded 38 millimetres of rain at its Horsham observation site during July. Stawell recorded 52mm, Edenhope 50mm, Ararat 36mm and Hopetoun 27mm.
BOM is predicting rain from August to October would likely be above median for most of Australia.
Its three-month summary also showed a negative Indian Ocean Dipole forming, and large parts of the eastern Indian Ocean are warmer than average, which could favour aboveaverage winter-spring rain for parts of Australia.
Commodity prices
Mr Weidemann said changes in the global grains market would contribute to high demand for Wimmera-mallee commodities.
“Canada is in a one-in-100-year drought at the moment. You’ve got a chunk of America’s prime wheat growing area that’s also struggling for moisture, combined with the fact China is buying up more wheat than expected,” he said.
“All of these factors are pushing global prices up.”
Mr Weidemann said demand for pulses and oil seeds were also growing.
“Last week, there were announcements coming out of India where they’re looking at accumulating more pulses, which is a great sign for the Wimmera-mallee,” he said.
“Oil seeds and canola are our premium crops this year in terms of price. However, sadly a lot of the Mallee was too late for them to get a decent start.
“But the Wimmera and Western
District should do quite well out of canola.”
Mr Weidemann said if market demand continued through the year, producers would be looking at a positive economic return at harvest later this year.
“Commodity prices are looking really strong, however, the really good rainfall months that put dollars in people’s pockets are probably from September
through to October,” he said. “We just need those finishing rains in those months, and we should have a pretty solid year.”
Reason to invest
Mr Jochinke said rain and commodity prices were contributing to producers’ confidence to invest on their farms.
“The general feeling when I’m catching up with my neighbours or talking to people further afield is positivity,” he said.
“With the turnaround in weather, farmers are making strategic decisions for the future with key purchases of equipment, silos, machinery, grain and hay handling gear.
“There seems to be a lot of positivity around investing in those items that in a general year, you can’t necessarily justify.”
Mr Jochinke said the winter rain gave him a renewed sense of confidence regional producers could expect a better than average return this season.
“When we first started this season, I was very conservative and thought we could pull off an average season,” he said.
“We’re a long way off before we count any chickens, but if we stay on this trajectory, it will be a promising year.”