WHILE 2013 wasn’t a bumper year for grain growers in the Central West, the season at “Pine Hill”, Corinella, was one of the best years yet.
Owner Don Ridley farms a total of 1000 hectares across “Pine Hill”, “Old Pine Hill”, and nearby “Myrtlevale”, with wife Liz and children Caroline, Jack, Max and Melanie.
Mr Ridley said the 2013 season produced the best wheat crop he’s had in the 40 years he has grown wheat in the Corinella district.
Of the 500ha of winter cereals planted, Mr Ridley said about two thirds were sown to wheat including Wedgetail, Gregory and some Livingston.
“We averaged 18 bags to the acre or 3.75 tonne a hectare and didn’t irrigate,” he said.
“We sowed some of the wheat crop on to very heavy soil at ‘Myrtlevale’ and had a great result.”
The Ridleys were lucky to be spared in the “great frosting of 2013” but some Central West grain growers weren’t so fortunate.
“I think we need a slower-maturing variety between Gregory and Wedgetail,” Mr Ridley said.
“A lot of Central West growers put in Gregory and it is recommended to be sown in the first week of May, but it is a quick grower and I think it needs to be sown later if they want to miss the frosting period.”
Mr Ridley said for his area, Wedgetail was too prone to disease, which made it costly to grow.
“If we spray twice and the second time it’s too wet we have to use an aeroplane and it just costs too much. We are also being told to steer clear of rust prone varieties”
Mr Ridley said he followed the recommendation of his agronomist, Matt Gould, Landmark Forbes, and sowed Gregory wheat dry in the first week of May at a rate of 50 kilograms a hecatre with monoammonium phosphate at a rate of 40kg.
“We will definitely sow later this year but we are going to try Eaglehawk and Marombi varieties.”
Canola was another bumper crop for the family this year.
Sixth generation farmers Jack and Max farmed when they could last year, coming home from university to “lend a green thumb” on the family farm.
The boys tried their hand at canola last year and managed to average 2.4t/ha in an ordinary season.
“We only sowed 80ha of Garnett and, in one block, the crop was estimated to yield 1.8t/ha but it actually went 3t/ha,” Mr Ridley said.
The family has been farming the “Pine Hill” and “Old Pine Hill” properties for more than 130 years but Mr Ridley said he hadn’t grown canola on any of the three properties until last year.
“We will put more canola in next year – about 250ha and we will double the overall cropping area to 1000ha because we are now sharefarming extra land and we had a great result this year,” he said.
The grain market has been ordinary because of the dry season and a bumper corn crop in the US, according to Mr Ridley, but by selling a portion of their 1800t of wheat each month they have managed to take advantage of the higher prices in the market.
“About 90 per cent of it went to AWB in Bogan Gate,” Mr Ridley said.
“The price is still only at about $235t.”
With the canola, Mr Ridley said selling half at harvest and holding on to the rest had paid off, but the price was still lower than it should be.
“We sold the remaining 90t last week for $374/t which is better than the first half (we sold).
“We really need a lower dollar value.”