GRAINGROWERS national policy group member and Warracknabeal farmer Daniel Keam says farmers are gearing up for another “average to above average year”, with decent soil moisture contributing to this forecast.
“With the modern farming practices and the soil conservation methods we use, with the spraying and no-till approach, we have been able to effectively store the moisture,” Mr Keam said.
“Using moisture probes we can see that the moisture is currently about 100-150mm down so we are pretty well set up for this year.”
Mr Keam said input costs had settled down following some tough periods during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Thankfully everything has settled down, particularly from the COVID years where prices for inputs fluctuated dramatically,” he said.
“Fertiliser costs have settled over the past 12 months and while fuel is a harder one to read, farmers are becoming more astute at reading the international situation and making decisions on what is happening.
“Everything seems to be moving along fairly well and it’s a case of business as usual.”
He said there was no sense of urgency at the moment, with sowing programs progressing at a steady pace.
“Many of us are probably surprised about how easily we are moving along and I am a bit more through our program at this stage than I would have expected,” he said.
“When it comes to the start of sowing, most people are not waiting for the break or moisture, they start by the calendar.
“Most programs are a reasonable size and you have to start some time, otherwise it can be too late.
“A lot of people work on the method that there are only two times to sow – and that’s early and on time.
“Late is not nearly the go anymore.”
With all eyes on the sky, Mr Keam said farmers remained optimistic despite dry sowing conditions.
“A lot of people are looking at the sky to see what happens from here and there are a lot of predictions being thrown around,” he said.
“As farmers there is a fair bit of optimism around, and if the rain had come recently, we may well have seen more people out there getting a few more crops in to take advantage of the conditions.”
