I’m a fifth-generation farmer and diesel mechanic at Mount Cooper near Streaky Bay SA. I manage daily operations with my parents Koonz (Neville) and Anneleise. We plant 3,500 acres between two properties and have 650 self-replacing merino flock (the unavailability of reticulated water is the limiting factor). Our soil ranges from sand over clay to red heavy soil and shallow limestone and sand! The average rainfall is 250ml in the growing season.
I have travelled and worked in Canada to bring home ideas to improve and bring new innovation to our business by adapting the planting of multi-species crops into our rotations and cell grazing to improve our soil health and including faba beans for nitrogen additions naturally.
Last year, our cropping rotations consisted of a mix of wheat, barley and faba bean and the multi-species cover crops for livestock feed and paddock nutrition. We received average rainfall for the season, which produced good crops. Then, during harvest, we had heavy rains that changed our quality to feed for the rest of the grain harvest. After harvest, the rain continued into the summer, which created endless summer spraying to preserve the moisture for the upcoming season.
2022 seeding brought high input costs and tricky supply chains of chemicals, which caused us to change our ways and purchase supplies in advance from now on. Seeding ran very smoothly as moisture was not a problem and all was planted relatively early and established well. Then only in July, was there a period of dry which affected the growth. The rainfall for the season has been above average and has not given up. Spraying has been a focus towards the end of the season. As fertilizer is such a huge cost, we have focused on crop nutrition with our agronomist to enhance plant growth.
Now in November, the cooler conditions have prolonged the season and the farmers are eager for it to warm up so that they can harvest. The upcoming harvest expectations are looking extremely good if we can get into the paddocks before more rain events happen and change our quality again. The logistics of getting the crop off and into the bin is a concern and so is the rising freight prices and how our storage and handling organisation is going to be able to deal with the tonnage.
In the future, I would like to see some of the conferences and meetings that are attended by our leaders held in rural districts where they can get the opportunity to understand growers' issues at a grassroots level and realise our situation better by spending time in our beautiful areas. Last month it was great to GrainGrowers’ SA representative Robert Siviour visit our Ag Bureau and listen to the concerns that we face as growers.
I am thankful that, although we may be wet, we are not in the same position as growers in the east. As growers, we will stand together and help where we can as things dry. Our thoughts are with our fellow growers.