Southwest Australian rainfall spurs planting of winter crops

Widespread rainfall in southwest Australia Thursday (May 21) and Friday, particularly in the northern and eastern areas of the region's wheatbelt, have sparked planting of winter crops including wheat, according to industry participants.

 

The rainfall signals the formal start of the 2009-10 with sowing of crops underway now for harvest in November and December, Mike Norton, president of farmer services concern Western Australian Farmers' Federation said in a statement issued late Thursday.

 

"While there are still areas yet to receive rain, farmers that have received or are still expecting rain over the coming days, are pleased that the front has finally come," though more is still needed in many areas, he said in a statement.

 

"For grain producers, the rain will assist with the germination of dry seeded crops, provide moisture and reduce incidents of soil erosion from wind," he said.

 

There were widespread reports of wind erosion in cropping areas Thursday ahead of the rainfall.

 

The rainfall wasn't uniform through the wheatbelt with some northern growing areas receiving 60 millimetres in the past day, while Beacon area in the far northeast of the wheatbelt receiving 25 mm but Esperance in the far southeast only four mm, said Shane Sander, a risk management adviser at Western Australia-based commodity manager AGvise.

 

"A lot of those northern and eastern areas have got enough rain now to adequately finish their seeding programs," Sander said by telephone from Merredin town in Western Australia's central wheat belt.

 

As for the timing of the rainfall, despite some concerns raised about dry weather thus far in May, "to be perfectly honest, we're quite comfortable."

 

He expects that given the timing and distribution of these rains, farmers in Western Australia will at the least plant an average area to winter crops.

 

Western Australia produces about 40 percent of the nation's wheat crop, with annual state production averaging 7.6 million tonnes a year of a recent national average of 18.8 million tonnes. Most wheat in Western Australia is available for export, potentially making the area a major source of global traded wheat.