Six weeks ago it looked like a season full of promise throughout the region, with crops filling out well in the paddocks, but the outlook has changed and harvest expectations have plummeted.
For marginal farmers expectations for harvest are already looking grim, with many paddocks destined to be left unreaped and crops already dead in the soil.
Belalie North farmer Cameron Goodes said prospects weren’t good in his district.
Although crops are still green, there is no subsoil moisture to sustain them and without rain will not finish well.
“Our crops will still be quite reasonable if we get rain soon - but that seems unlikely,” he said.
It’s been frustrating for farmers who were finally looking hopefully toward a good year after two appalling harvests.
“It’s a very concerning season – spring has just shut off, for the third year in a row, and now it could turn out to be worse than the previous two,” Mr Goodes said.
“Everyone is a bit surprised as no-one thought it would be so bad for two years in a row, let alone three years.”
Further north in the marginal farming area around Peterborough Pat and John Casey’s oat crop lies dead in the paddocks, and although the wheat is still green it’s unlikely to fulfil its promise.
“We didn’t reap last year and it doesn’t look good again now,” Mrs Casey said.
“It’s all looking a bit ‘iffy’ and our next concern will be looking for feed for our stock - but we just keep hoping and praying.
Everyone tries to keep optimistic.”
The past years have been tough on families trying to live off the land and particularly hard on the men, who despite using the best farming practises continue to see their crops fail. Battling rising costs and falling incomes, hard decisions will have to be made.
Some are considering stretching their time and endurance by working two jobs by farming and working in the mines, whether to diversify, or just walk away.
“We have thought about giving it up. You go through your options and we keep reminding ourselves there is so much to be thankful for, apart from what is in the bank. It’s important to try and keep things in perspective.”
In the Lower North local Primary Industries agronomist Tom Yeatman is also worried about the season that has changed harvest estimates dramatically from good to poor.
“At the beginning of the month we weren’t looking too bad, but with September rains well below an average for many years, coupled with windy and warm conditions estimates have plummeted,” he said.
Mr Yeatman said crops were maturing rapidly with an expectation that early areas would begin harvesting within the next two weeks.
“And with reduced yields likely, it’s obviously disappointing. This is the third year in a row we have been let down by the weather.”
Low yields will be compensated to some extent by higher prices, but farmers had been looking forward to doing a bit better to recoup their previous losses.
“Farmers are a pretty patient lot, but this has been stretching the friendship a bit,” Mr Yeatman said.
“I think the last time things have been this bad was back in the 1940s when the whole country blew away.”
Current farming practices have improved markedly with more emphasis on caring for the soil and land than ever before and taking nothing for granted, but this hasn’t helped the outlook.
Mr Yeatman stressed the importance of farmers seeking help if they needed support – phone the Drought Hotline on 180 20 20.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff