Paddock Perspectives | Andrew Barber VIC

I crop around 3500ha with my wife and three kids on a fourth-generation property near Birchip in North-Western Victoria. The soils range from heavy soils in the south to lighter soils in the north. The average rainfall is 350mm, however, last year we had 550mm. This was not ideal, as we lost some of the lentils because they were underwater. At the same time, I learnt the importance of fungicides in wet seasons. We sprayed three applications on the wheat and overall, 2022 turned out to be an excellent year.

We started sowing canola this year, as we do most years, on 14 April. As last year was so wet, we currently have some good subsoil moisture, however so far the rains have not been enough to join the moisture up. We had two rain events in April, which is unusual, but enough to get the early canola up to the two-leaf stage. The later sown canola is just starting to get to cotyledon stage or has not yet germinated.

The lentils, which were sown are about 20 percent up. We have started on the wheat and barley, with about 40 percent to go. Usually, I like to have sowing completed by the first week of June, so the crops are all up by the end of June, but due to the lack of rain, I’m not overly in a hurry to get it in. We are a couple of large rain events away from a good year!

I believe I still have a bit to learn, but if I was to pass on any words of wisdom, it would be to conserve moisture and have a well-planned summer spray program. Overall, my inputs are the same this year as previous years. I look forward to the crops getting out of the ground, I just hope we get some good rain soon!