By Bronwyn Hastings

Farmers in the region enjoyed a wet start to the season – with parts of the northern Mallee recording its wettest March on record – while growers in the Wimmera are sowing into soil with lower moisture content.

Birchip grain grower Mick Foote, at the gateway to the Mallee, told Country Today he had finished sowing this season’s canola and was moving onto barley.

“We finished the canola, and I’m hoping some will come up, the moisture’s gone down a little bit,” he said.

“We’re going to Neo barley, which is a long-term barley, and then we’ll whack in a bit of wheat. 

“We had Neo last year, I was a bit worried in the dry season, but it yielded quite well.”

Mr Foote said he was persisting with wheat, despite current low prices, and had already sown vetch.

He said he and his father had also been deep-ripping.

“So far, it looks good,” he said.

“But you look at fuel, which was not good, but luckily we finished it this year before the war started. 

“We found that if we open up the hard pan, the moisture gets through better and the roots get through better, and it seems to be working quite well.”

Mr Foote said he was ‘thinking positive’ about fuel prices and shortages.

“You’ve got to be positive about the whole thing and look for the positive in it,” he said.

Agriculture Victoria seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey said it had been a great start across much of the state.

“In March, looking at maximum temperature deciles, it was close to average across the state – only the western Mallee was cooler, and a small region around Warrnambool was warmer,” he said.

“Minimum temperature deciles were much warmer at decile eight-to-10. 

“Surveying the Bureau of Meteorology Australian Water Outlook-modelled soil-moisture decile for perennial-pasture paddocks, it’s much wetter in the Mallee at decile 10, with the Wimmera, northern country, and parts of the east, at decile eight. 

“Comparing this with soil-moisture probes shows higher values where the rainfall was greatest, and low- soil moisture values in some of the southwest areas, and where perennial pastures have fired up after using surface soil water.”

Mr Grey said air-pressure was normal over most of Victoria, with higher pressure over March. 

“My assessment of 12 climate models for Victoria are split between likely drier and neutral rainfall, and split between lightly warmer and neutral temperatures for the next three months,” he said.

“As for the autumn break – west Gippsland is the earliest average break in the state, the only region commonly occurring in March. 

“A suite of other high-rainfall locations see their average break in April, with some before the folkloric date of Anzac Day – including Moyston around April 18 and Longerenong May 9.

“The northern and northwest croppers often have to wait until May for their action to begin, except this year, it’s been early March for them – something that’s only happened one to three times before, which makes it very rare indeed.”

The entire April 29, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire April 29, 2026 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!