How have farmers dealt with low rainfall early in the year?
We’ve had bits and pieces of rain.
We’ve had probably 10mm to 12mm over the last week, so it’s damp and we’re about to start sowing.
When we get further into May we might get some breaking rains, but we haven’t had what we call a break to the season yet, we’ve just had a few little showers.
Sometimes that happens.
You have a few showers and it gradually gets wet, then you gradually get going.
It’s been consistently dry over the last couple months, and the forecast doesn’t look like we’ll be getting much until well into May.
Once we get into the middle of May we would like to see some rainfall events, although a lot of us these days start seeding dry anyway.
Have you started to sow crops?
We’ll keep going regardless of the rain.
If we get a rain we’ll just switch from dry sowing to wet sowing, which would be nice.
It’s a bit awkward at the moment, because it’s not really wet, nor is it really dry.
We get little bits of rain which mean there’s enough moisture for the crop to come up, but not enough moisture in the ground to sustain it for very long.
If we were sowing canola for instance we would be taking a gamble that there’s enough (moisture) for it to come up, but if it didn’t rain for a fortnight it might just fall over.
Once you get into May the odds are it will rain within the next two or three weeks, so you start to take a gamble then.
Is there confidence in current market prices?
It’s interesting to watch the market, and canola prices are going through the roof.
It hasn’t been up over $700 (per tonne) for a while, and once it gets there you can start to take a good place in the market.
I think it’s to do with weather events, as parts of Europe are looking like they might have a difficult season.
The biggest canola grower in the world is Canada, and the weather events are looking not as good as they could have been.
People are reacting in the marketplace now and the price is going up.
Wheat prices are still ok… and we can still make a profit on the current prices.
Are farmers keen to begin planting GM crops?
I believe about 20 per cent of South Australia’s canola is going to be GM this year and that’s been held back by the seed availability.
Next year I anticipate a very large amount of GM canola to go in.
It’s really nice to have that freedom of choice, as it’s another tool in our toolbox.
Most farmers won’t be going overboard with GM, but it’s another tool and responsible people will rotate GM canola with other crops.
Any advice for farmers at this stage?
We try to keep up to speed with all the new varieties… (because) the new varieties are always better.
My advice to farmers is to evaluate new varieties every year and if possible buy enough to grow, and evaluate them.
In particular land prices seem to be rising quickly and there’s a lot of demand for land, so there’s confidence in the ag sector.
As we explore non-Chinese markets we tend to find (new options), so I don’t think we’ll be held back by China’s tariffs and boycotts.
