Farmers from Dubbo to Albury are assessing damage to their crops following heavy frosts during the first 10 days of this month.
Wheat crops in particular have been hit hard, with some farmers estimating yield losses from frost damage of up to 75 per cent.
Frost damage can occur in canola, but it seems the canola crops have not been as
much as wheat, due to the different growth characteristics of that crop.
NSW DPI Cereals Expert Frank McRae has had reports of severe frost damage in southern NSW, as wheat crops were at their most
vulnerable stage, during flowering, grain
formation and filling.
Farmers are now assessing individual
paddocks and making crucial decisions about the future of their crops.
At Dirnaseer, in the heart of wheat growing country between Cootamundra, Junee and Temora, frost damage has been severe.
Justin Roberts of ‘Carinya’, along with Sandy Biddulph of Biddulph Rural Consulting at Cootamundra, were inspecting individual cereal crop paddocks that showed the extent of the frost damage seen in the district.
In a Gregory wheat paddock, that had the potential to yield 2.5-3 tonnes of grain per hectare, frost damage has resulted in that yield being reduced to 0.5-0.75 tonnes/hectare.
“Even after a dry season, this crop had good potential to yield well, but the frost damage has changed all that.
“After assessing the crop, it will be cut for hay,” said Mr Roberts.
This is after Mr Roberts has already made the decision to turn his canola crop into silage.
“Justin has had excellent management on this wheat crop.
“He delayed the sowing time because of the risk of late frosts but the mild winter allowed the crop to grow quickly and mature earlier than normal, which is typical of most crops in the region this season.
“Unfortunately this is not an isolated case as I have seen frost damage in cereal, canola and pulse crops in the district,” said Mr Biddulph.
Farmers have to make some tough
decisions.
“They can either cut their crops immediately for hay, or hope for some decent rain to ensure the surviving grains fill and harvest them or spray out the paddock and use it for grazing,” said Mr Biddulph.
Current prices for cereal hay are up to $180/tonne on farm and with costs of hay making at $100/ha, the option is there to recover some costs - providing farmers can sell the hay.
Many farmers will be locking into a contract for the sale of their hay to safeguard their
decision.
Two years ago many farmers were caught with hay they could not sell and many farmers feel the fire risk with stored hay is too big.
With the recent dry seasons impacting on soil moisture levels for crops, farmers are trying to conserve as much water as possible over summer.
“Farmers have an option to hay-freeze their paddocks by spraying them out and letting stock graze on them over summer and save soil moisture for next years crop,” said Mr Biddulph.
John Ellis, M S Davidson at Henty, also reported severe frost damage in wheat crops in the district.
“The greatest damage has been on farms west of Yerong Creek and Pleasant Hills and for many growers their harvest will be cut
dramatically.
“Along with the dry spring and lack of moisture in the soil profile the yield from these crops is going to be poor and many crops have already been cut for hay,” said Mr Ellis.
The extent of this frost damage on crops is going to seriously impact on farmers in a number of ways which will carry through to rural communities and all sectors of the Australian economy.
The frost damage is heart breaking for farmers and a disaster for the rural community in southern NSW.
“Perhaps its time for the plant breeders to concentrate on breeding some frost tolerant wheat varieties,” said Mr Roberts.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter