Farmers in parts of New South Wales face losses totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars because record rains have prevented them from planting crops.
Key points:
- Farmers in the midwestern state have been unable to plant 50 percent of their harvest
- Canola producer John Barber says the losses will increase mental health problems
- The owners hope that the end of La Niña’s weather pattern will save the harvest
John Barber grows wheat and canola near Parkes and, like many in the Midwest, has only planted 50 percent of his seeds.
Barber recorded 450 millimeters of rain this year, an unprecedented amount that left the paddocks too wet to drive machinery and delayed the planting season.
“There’s about a three- or four-week period where we can put canola. Unfortunately, this continuous rain means most of us have lost that window,” he said.
“It’s a new era for us here right now with such volatile weather.
“We’ve never seen so much rain at the beginning of the year.”
Mr Kingham has been forced to replant his crop on three occasions due to above-average rainfall. (ABC Central West: Hamish Cole)
It’s a similar story for Forbes farmer Neil Kingham, who has also been forced to replant his crops three times this year.
“The rapeseed we planted in April, unfortunately, drowned because instead of getting the planned 10 or 20 millimeters we got 90 millimeters and that just got into the paddocks and drowned the seed.” , he said.
“We’re at the end of June basically starting from scratch.”
According to agronomist Max Ridley, it is a problem faced by many properties across the state.
“For most of New South Wales it has been wet and they have had problems with planting and crop emergence,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of harvesting over the last six or eight weeks.”
Mental health concerns
With record prices of canola and wheat, this year was being hailed as an opportunity for farmers to recover from the losses experienced during the drought between 2017 and 2019.
Barber says farmers’ mental health is a major concern after planting is stopped. (ABC Central West: Hamish Cole)
Barber said, on the other hand, that farmers had seen costs rise and that yields would probably be well made from the harvest, which pushed many to the breaking point.
“It’s very exhausting to see the price of wheat and the price of canola where it is and not being able to go up to the ground to plant it takes its toll,” he said.
Perfect conditions needed
Recently, the Bureau of Meteorology announced that La Niña, the weather pattern that has brought heavy rains to much of the state, is over.
The weather pattern of La Nina has brought record rainfall to the state. (ABC Central West: Mollie Gorman)
Kingham said this had given farmers new hope that drier conditions could save the crop.
“We need a period of probably a month to plant the paddocs that are already full of water and give them a chance to dry,” he said.
“From here we need cool conditions with regular rain but not too much rain.
“Right now we’re starting to be pretty demanding.”