Charlotte Varcoe
ALTHOUGH many welcomed the record rain in Naracoorte recently, some seed farmers are calling on warmer weather.
The recent rainfall – which reached up to 100ml in some areas – has caused chaos for seed farmers with many crops either sitting in window or waiting to be harvested.
Naracoorte Seeds director Jamie Tidy said luckily most crops were hard-seeded varieties which could handle a certain amount of rain.
“With seeds, if it has too much water on it, they will start to sprout and the poor old farmer has zero return for their effort which is not good,” Mr Tidy said.
“Other crops like persian clover – which is very common in hay mixes – will only add yield to them but at some stage we need the rain to go away.”
He said now warmer weather was needed to allow the crops to ripen, ready for harvest.
“It is very frustrating and the rain is great for pasture growth but for seed production it is not ideal,” Mr Tidy said.
“At this time of the year it certainly helps if people have gone and brought cattle or sheep and they have got green feed in the paddock as it will certainly put on a lot of weight.”
He said in 2011 there was a “serious amount of summer rains” similar to this year.
“There is an old saying in the seed industry that you do not have it until it is in the bag and in seasons like this not a truer word has been spoken,” Mr Tidy said.
“You do feel for small seed producers who have been planning these crops since March and it is very frustrating because this is the time of the year where they can harvest the seed and turn it into cash.
“Unless you can get it harvested first it is very frustrating so we are ready for this weather to come off a bit.”
He said moving forward the ideal weather would be warm in order to dry out crops, stating if working in pasture there would be a lot greener paddocks than usual this time of year.
“Hopefully this weather pattern will change sooner rather than later because it will start to cost a lot of people a lot of money if they cannot get both small sites and cereal impulse crops,” Mr Tidy said.
“The rain filled up water tanks and a lot of people who were busily irrigating because of the dry spring are now saving money because diesel is not cheap.”
