GRAIN growers across Queensland's Darling Downs are already starting to plant wheat and barley on the back of good autumn rain, with solid feed prices at the back of their minds.
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Cotton growers are finalising their pick and although yields are down on the whole, apart from the few cases where irrigators were able to keep watering, prices have held up well.
And there are plans this winter for ventures into entirely new crops.
All that adds up to a bit of cautious optimism and a lift in the potential for on-farm investment, according to agribusiness experts and agronomists from the region.
Agronomist with CRT retailer Dalby Rural Supplies Andrew Johnston said chickpeas and even faba beans would also be planted on the Downs this winter.
Dalby Rural Supplies is one of CRT FarmFest's prominent exhibitors.
Mr Johnston said the development of a new variety suited to the region's conditions had prompted some growers to try faba beans.
"Farmers are interested in the nitrogen efficiency benefits but there were also some attractive hectare contracts about," he said.
The dry October to March had depleted summer crop yields significantly - as much as 50 per cent in sorghum, he said.
"We started with good subsoil moisture and a reasonable cotton plant and a big sorghum plant went in but high temperatures and no rain took a big toll on yields," he said.
"However, the 100 to 170 millimetres in late March has been fantastic, albeit six weeks late, and that has put us back in the game. Growers are planting now on good moisture.
"They are obviously still wary and there is not much cash flow given the hit they've taken during summer but the outlook is improved.
"Traditionally, we don't get much winter rainfall here so we need to start on a full moisture profile."
Meanwhile, the longer term outlook for corn production is strong, according the Maize Association of Australia (MAA).
MAA president, Harley Blight, told an industry meeting in Toowoomba this month that by 2020 his association expected to have led growth of Australian maize production from 630,000 tonnes to a million tonnes.
To achieve this, Australia would use its desirable non-GMO status to tap into the growing north Asian market, he said.
There was also scope to expand sales in the domestic market through grain and silage to the dairy industry, he said.
Shan Goodwin
Journalist for The Land on the North Coast.
Journalist for The Land on the North Coast.
