June 1, 2010

Australian farmers shift focus to rapeseed and pulses

A Department of Primary Industries (DPI) survey has found Victorian croppers will be switching out of feed grains and into rapeseed and pulses this year.

The state's total cropped area will fall by 1.8% to 3.372 million hectares this year, primarily on the back of falls in plantings of feed cereals, such as oats, barley and triticale. On the flip side, there are increases in rapeseed plantings, and all the major pulse crops. Wheat plantings are also up, in spite of a fall in acreage in the crop's heartland in the Mallee.

DPI grains project manager Chris Sounness said crops would cover a similar area to last year, but this season featured more wheat, rapeseed and pulses, and less cereal feed grain and hay.

"High stocks of both domestic fodder and international feed grain coupled with a high Australian dollar have influenced decisions at sowing time to shift to higher value crops this season," Sounness said.

"Good subsoil moisture levels from general summer rains have also meant that previously out of favour and higher risk rapeseed and pulse crops are back in the rotations," he said.

Noticeably, rapeseed, generally thought a high risk crop in low rainfall zones, is more prominent in the north of the state, with an 80% increase in plantings in the Mallee and a 60% increase in the Wimmera, driving a 23% increase across the state.

"Earlier autumn rains may have contributed to an increase in rapeseed plantings," Sounness said.