Central West NSW & MIA

Territory Manager:
                                  Chris Fletcher

Reasonable falls of 20-30mm on Sunday and Monday 27-28th April have relieved a little stress in the MIA and as far north as West Wyalong.

This has seen a flurry of activity, with canola being planted throughout this area.

Confidence in the coming season has been renewed somewhat as a result of this – particularly for dryland farmers. Subsoil moisture is good in other areas further north around Forbes, Narromine and Warren, but an inch or so of rain wouldn’t go astray there as well to get the season off to a flying start. 

The weather has cooled noticeably, especially in the past week which has taken some pressure off early oat crops that were beginning to look a bit thirsty in areas. Much of the irrigated canola has been sown and watered up with the limited irrigation water available. It looks as though the small amount of water available in the MIA through allocation and carry-over will be used mainly to water winter crop as the current prices for wheat and canola remain buoyant along with the chance of some reasonable rain throughout the winter to help take pressure off the surface water. Unfortunately, this may mean another below average summer cropping season relying mainly on ground water and bore pumpers.

Keen interest in our juncea varieties will see close to 4000ha go in west of Griffith and other isolated pockets west of the Newell Highway in 2008, where it is proving to have a  great fit with break-crop benefits second to none. 

Our Demonstration site should be sown at Forbes by mid-May and will also include a sowing rate trial for juncea, as we continue to nail-down the ideal agronomic package for a crop very much in its infancy. A replicated trial of all of our main canola varieties will also be planted with some of our competitors lines for comparison. We will also take the opportunity to showcase our wheat varieties for the first time this season, of which we are very proud and excited to be involved with.

From the outstanding EGA Gregory, to our recent acquisitions LPB Crusader, LPB Lincoln and LPB Datoka, there will be plenty to look at. Good yields have been recorded for our grit corn varieties, XL80 and Hycorn 345IT this year around the Riverina, Lachlan and Macquarie Valleys, with ranges of 10.5-12.5t/ha common.

Twynam property, “Gundaline”, Carrathool, managed a 12.3t/ha average for their XL80 which they were extremely pleased with. Meanwhile, our feed varieties Hycorn 533 and Hycorn 675IT continue to please, with industry leading grain and silage yields and impressive agronomics and superior breeding making them benchmark varieties for the industry. 

I intend to hold several field days throughout the growing season so you can see the impressive growth habits and traits of our canola and wheat varieties for yourself.  

Coming soon

Last Updated: 2 May, 2008