Still raining in Australia??

[buzz]

I heard on the radio today the harvest is behind with poor weather. Any first hand accounts?

[SASKFARMER3]

If I could down load some pictures I got you guys would shit. We were wet day after day but they got a flood. Its amazing.

[SASKFARMER3]

<a href="http://s655.photobucket.com/albums/uu271/kotyjo/?action=view&current=84276936.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

[gustgd]

Message from Rob
Narridy, South Australia

Back in Aus, well I think I brought the wet weather back from Canada!
Our harvest has been good until a week ago, when the rains started to fall. We had 70mm to start with and since then we seem to get a rain every second day, which brought harvest to a stand still. This rain has effected quality of all our remaining crop.
We are expecting feed wheat and discoloured lentils and beans.
Barley averaged 5.2t/ha but went feed because of black tip. Wheat, we still haven't finished but so far has averaged 4.5t/ha and we have just started on lentils, the first paddock went 2.4t/ha with enougher 3/4 to a tonne on the ground after strong winds and hale. Strong winds have layed over crops so its going to be a slow end to harvest.

Grain prices to date:
Milling wheat: $320-$415/t higher protein = higher price
Feed Wheat $220/t
Canola $603/t
Malting Barley $300 /t
Lentils $715/t
Peas $270/t

Good luck with whats left of the year and merry Christmas to all in Canada. Cheers Rob.

[craig]

Just got back from Australia where we spent 2
weeks visiting farms in Queensland and Victoria.
Couldn't believe it could be that wet over such a
large area. Wheat in the north is full of fusarium
and both the trade and producers are grappling
with an issue they normally don't have. We saw
places that had 2.5 inches overnight and other
areas where they had almost 6 inches in a 24 hour
period. We were slated to go to Emerald but had to
cancel when the roads were all washed away. Any
lentils we saw had taken a real beating especially
those that were fully ripe. Barley and wheat crops
showed extensive lodging and there is concern that
the heat and humidity will bring on sprouting in
the heads. The biggest issue for many farmers will
be being able to actually get in and harvest crops.
Fields are waterlogged and even if you can harvest
you still have to get the grain away and into some
storage. The worse of the problems seem to be
inland in both New South Wales and Victoria. Crops
we looked at in more costal areas did seem to be
fairing much better but there harvest is still a
month away. You can imagine the mental strain for
farmers coming out of 5 years of drought only to
see the crops drown. There is no production
insurance to fall back on.

[TOM4CWB]

Dear Craig,

Thanks!

As for controlled traffic in the fields... is there any big difference between those that do and normal practices?

[craig]

Tom interesting your comment. We always thought
of controlled traffic from the perspective of working
good in dry conditions more than wet but we were
able to observe first hand some of the benefits
under extremely wet conditions. We arrived at
Robert Ruwold's after he had about 2.5 inches the
night before. This was on top of the 3 to 4 inches
he had received earlier in the week. On the
headlands of his fields there was a lot of water on
the surface but on the field we could easily walk on
top with only our soles getting wet. They said that
as long as they stayed on the compacted tramlines
they could combine in pretty wet conditions
although the headlands are a challenge. The field
beside his house had water on the surface when we
arrived but had all disappeared by afternoon. He
said that they were at full capacity in his soils so if
they get further rains CTF might not handle all their
problems.

[buzz]

Thanks guys for the update.
I have never been to Australia but would love to go sometime.