Canola crop 2022 shows seasonal lucky dip

There were farmers who sowed canola early that had to replant and there were those who had to resort to an aerial spread of leftover seed to fill the gaps from water logging.

In the north some had the opposite problem, with six weeks of no rain, despite it being forecasted. This meant nitrogen that was spread early missed the mark.

While each growing region has faced its challenges with crops recorded from 'good to bad', one thing is clear, that the weather has played havoc across the entire state.

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In the south Craig Warren, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Temora, said there was a real line in the sand between the good and the average.

"South and west of Temora everything is looking extremely well and we're between 20 and 50 per cent bloom," he said.

"There's a full profile of moisture and the majority of the fungicide work has been done and all the nitrogen programs have been completed so we're just waiting for it to progress though."

"If we don't have any cold or heat shock between now and then we could certainly see yields north of three tonne to the hectare."

However, north of Temora there are significant areas of plant death due to waterlogging and depending on what happens in the next three weeks, yields could be as low as what was seen in 2016 (300kg-500kg/ha).

Further west at Narrandera, David Coddington, Elders, said about 95pc of the canola planned to be planted was in the ground despite some areas needing to be resown. It is now in full flower, and he thought the crops could yield 2-2.5t/ha.

Shelby Dickson, Ag 'n' Vet Services, West Wyalong, said her clients spread from heavy black soils to lighter red country with a mix in quality of canola.

"Anything on that lighter red country that drains well is going well, we're looking hopefully at 2.5t/ha," she said.

"Anything on heavier country is looking quite patchy, probably missed both its in-crop sprays and may have missed some of its urea and looking on the lower side."

Timing has been everything for canola in the Lachlan area with those that got crop in the ground early noticeably outperforming later sown programs.

Luke Frecklington, PY Agronomy, Parkes, said only 50pc of the district's program had been sown and much had been weather affected.

"In the good crops, I expect yield to be similar to last year at around 4t/ha with the poorer of the crops which have come out of the ground maybe getting 1.5t/ha," he said.

With some canola not coming up, he said growers were looking at alternatives, some scratching in barley.

"Some growers have tried re-sowing two or three times with no success," he said.

Elders Cowra agronomist, Rylie Cherrey, said falls of 30-37mm of rain this week had made paddocks untrafficable again.

Preventative fungicide was being applied aerially, but otherwise crops were looking good, with late-sown crops catching up and, overall, expectations of at least 3t/ha yield across the region.

Josh Driver, AgXtra, Dubbo, said about 60pc of the canola from Dubbo to Nyngan was planted late because of the wet conditions.

Meanwhile, David Ballantyne, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Dubbo, said those that had patchy crops due to wet conditions had thickened them up with spreading leftover seed aerially and with quad bikes to fill the gaps from water logging.

He said some farmers had sown with a forecast of 10-15mm of rain, but instead, up to 100mm fell and buried seed.

"A lot of seed didn't come up initially but they have come up through the season," he said.

Will Archer, Delta Ag, Trangie, said any crop that was "lucky enough to get in early" (around 30pc) was doing well. He expected 2-2.5t/ha. Some went in and drowned on unforgiving soil due to the rain.

At Narrabri, Dylan Verrier, Nutrien, said anyone spreading nitrogen early in crop "missed the boat" with no rain for six weeks in June and July.

"Anyone that got it in in-time with nitrogen under it will see 2-2.5t/ha, as long as we don't have a hot September," Mr Verrier said.