No moisture? No worries

The mixed farming operation at "Narratigah" endured its worst ever 30-month period for rainfall in the past two and half years, but attention to every detail meant the farming did not have to stop entirely.

Tony Single, whose family owns the property, said they had been able to grow wheat and chickpeas on rotations of a year and a half to two years, with special attention to water trigger points, weed control and long fallow periods for the paddocks.

"Planning the water trigger points is all about determining when the odds start to be in our favour for growing a profitable crop," Mr Single said.

Further calculations were then required to measure the expected returns of your crop against your expenses for growing it - and once the water triggers and expense calculations all add up, it's time to plant.

"It's not rocket science... It's just all about managing the probabilities," he said.

For wheat and chickpeas, the water trigger point at "Narratigah" was a soil moisture profile of about 50 centimetres to 60cm.

There were some crops that simply weren't worth the risk in dry conditions, however.

"There are three main crops we won't grow without a full profile... sorghum, canola and faba beans."

Mr Single said long fallow periods were another important aspect of farming during the drought.

"Reducing cropping frequency... gives a huge advantage in dry conditions," he said.

Running the winter fallows also reduced the weed seed banks in the paddocks, which helped with the third platform for dry condition cropping - weed control.

"The fallows put us in a great position for weed management," he said.

"You have to have a zero tolerance for weeds.

Other farmers were also able to grow crops in dry conditions in the North West, said Grains Research and Development Centre (GRDC) regional grower service manager Sharon O'Keeffe.

"Some would say it's a combination of a bit of luck and really good management, but I don't know whether it's luck to be in a position to take advantage of whatever soil moisture you get," Ms O'Keeffe said.

"It's about moisture farming... if you can make the most of every millimetre, and plan how much moisture you're going to need for each crop (you can still grow successfully in dry conditions).

"You just have to really hit every good management technique."

However, Ms O'Keeffe said the other side of good management in dry conditions was knowing when the risk of planting was simply too great.

"Some made the decision not to plant, which was the right decision.

"Now they're in a position to maybe plant a winter crop."

Farmers needed to have rules of thumb for soil moisture levels and planting set firmly in their minds, just like they had rules of thumb about dates in the year when sowing needed to occur by.