Western Downs barley shaping up for a perfect season
Constant wet falling across the Western Downs is solidifying an already excellent start to the grain growing season in the region.
AgForce Grains president and Warra farmer Brendan Taylor said the more than 100mm of rain received in late June, early July had filled the 1.2 metre moisture profile on the deep black soils on his dryland property, Tuckerang.
“The rain in the last six weeks has been incredible for a winter season, everything is shaping up perfectly,” Mr Taylor said.
“I’m having to get use to the mud on my boots, seeing the crop so tall and green is a real difference to the last few winter seasons.”
Parts of the Western Downs has been crippled with ongoing drought conditions for years, Mr Taylor said it was great to see the landscape start to change.
“The green around the country side has been great to see, not just the crop but the lush green grass, this upcoming season will mean a lot, to a lot of people,” he said.
“This summer, we had our best season in five years, and it wasn’t even an amazing season in terms of yield, it has just been so bad recently.:
Mr Taylor warned that despite everything shaping up to be a ripper season, nature has a way of overcorrecting itself.
“There of course a caveat, a lot wheat and sorghum growers in the region have had to push their harvest back because of the rain, that’s always a concern,” he said.
“If we get some very cold conditions in August, in the negatives, that could really affect our harvest too.”
Mr Taylor said growers are facing the same labour challenges that the rest of agriculture is, particularly a lack of skilled workers.
“We have always relied on backpackers, and backpackers who have trained and worked at other farms in different states to learn how to use complex and heavy machinery,” he said.
“Obviously the international borders being closed means we won’t have the same workforce, but now the ongoing border situation with the southern states mean we might not get the chance to share the work force that are already in the country.