Queensland farmers hoping for rain from last week’s change were left bitterly disappointed, with most areas recording less than 10mm on the weekend.
General rain was recorded across much of NSW and Victoria, but limited rain pushed north into Queensland. Rainfall amounts were also disappointing in Central Queensland where heavy Central Coast storms failed to penetrate inland to the Central Highlands.
Goondiwindi, St George, Roma, Miles and Dalby all received less than 10mm for the week.
Southern Queensland farmers are becoming increasingly desperate for a general rain to trigger winter crop planting and to germinate crops that have already been seeded. Little to no rain has fallen through April and May which has given farmers limited opportunity to plant winter crops. This is despite the heavy falls in late March on the back of Cyclone Debbie.
Some farmers have opted to deep seed chickpeas into the moisture that’s 10cm to 15cm below the surface, while others are still waiting for rain to commence. Cereal planting has been even more patchy, limited to farmers willing to seed dry and hope for rain or other that have been lucky enough to be under an isolated storm that provided enough moisture to make a start.
Darling Downs farmers are still sitting on good subsoil moisture courtesy of the rain after Cyclone Debbie, but it’s even drier in areas that missed this rain. Areas around St George and back towards Surat and west of Goondiwindi remain extremely dry and will need substantial rain to plant winter crops in 2017.
New South Wales farmers are expected to finalise winter crop planting on the back of last week’s rain. Most of the state’s north west received 20mm to 25mm, but this fell short of the 50mm farmers were looking for.
New crop wheat prices slipped by $5 to $245 Brisbane ahead the forecast for widespread rain across eastern Australia last week. Despite this modest weakening in prices, markets are yet to show any significant concerns about the drier than normal start to the season.
Dry weather worries are also increasing in Western Australia and parts of South Australia.
Western Australia, which normally produces around 40 per cent of Australia’s wheat and barley crop, is struggling to get winter cereals seeded. Like eastern Australia, many WA farmers have planted part of their crops dry in the hope of rain but have pulled up as the dry weather persists.
Similarly, South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula is also waiting for a general start to the season, having missed out on most of the rain enjoyed by other parts of the state.
United States wheat futures edged higher last week as their less than perfect weather creates doubts over the size and quality of its wheat crop. While Australian cropping areas are struggling with dry weather, the United States is experiencing too much rain.
Wheat harvesting has started in parts of Texas, but rain is slowing progress and raising quality concerns.
Local grain prices were steady to slightly firmer. Darling Downs feed grain prices continue to edge higher with the dry weather and limited farmer selling. Sorghum into Downs gained $2 to 257, while feed barley was $4 higher at $240 and stockfeed wheat gained $2 to $248.
