The Bureau of Meteorology has issued its autumn long-range forecast, pinpointing WA’s north and south as areas that could struggle for rain in the coming months.
The prediction comes off the back of WA’s warmest summer on record, with parts of the state much drier than usual, including the North West, where pastoralists are enduring record-breaking dry spells.
Richard Licciardello is the managing director of Karintha Orchards in Donnybrook, south of Perth, where he mainly grows pears, avocados and apples for the Canning Vale markets.
He told the ABC recent weather conditions had been tough.
“In 35 years on the farm, it’s probably on par with the worst year I’ve ever seen,” Mr Licciardello said.
“Normally, we get a few rain events during the season, even if it’s an inch-and-a-half of rain, but we’ve basically gone with nothing at all.”
Mr Licciardello said while the autumn forecast was worrying, it was important for growers to manage their water.
“Our dams are probably down to about 30 per cent,” he said.
“So once you’ve picked your crop like us, you’ll probably won’t water it after that.”
Sunburnt fruit
The busiest time of the year for the orchard is usually from Christmas to the end of March.
Mr Licciardello said he normally started picking his pears now, but he finished harvesting three weeks early.
He said quantity-wise, harvest was “alright”, but with the harsh summer temperatures, a lot of his fruit suffered from sunburn.
“Some of the fruit that would be normally grade one will be downgraded to grade two and some of the fruit that would normally get in a grade two will be downgraded to juice,” he said.
Mr Licciardello said a portion of his fruit “cooked” on the tree as temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius on some days.
“Those cooked ones, you will feel them, and they’re soft on the tree,” he said.
“You throw them straight onto the ground. We call them softies. We did get a percentage of those.”
‘No water like rainwater’
Mr Licciardo was all geared up to receive rain earlier this week.
“It sort of went east and west of us, and then there was a strip in the middle that was us,” he said.
“But that’s just farming. You just keep doing what you’re doing and just keep watering.”
He said it was likely neighbouring properties would be under pressure one way or another with water usage and quality.
“The lower the dams get, the worse the quality of the water tends to be. All the salt will sit at the bottom. As you get down lower your salt levels will become higher,” he said.
Given the predictions for a dry summer, Mr Licciardello is hopeful for a wet winter.
“We need a good [winter] to get the dams full, and it will be very interesting if we don’t,” he said.
Authorities investigating water table drop
On pastoral country in the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions, stations are going through an extended dry period and recently saw successive heatwaves.
In and around the Port Hedland area, pastoralists desperate for rain are drilling new bores on their land to access water.
However, it has been reported that many are struggling to access groundwater due to a long-term drop in the water table.
Mundabullangana station owner Michael Thompson said in 2023 he drilled 12 new bores, and dug deeper on several pre-existing bores, on his property 60 kilometres south-west of Port Hedland.
“It’s pretty grim. We just can’t afford another bad one,” he told the WA Country Hour.
He said the groundwater situation was “terrible” and blamed long-running extraction from the aquifer under his property for use in Port Hedland.
“We’re in a lot of bother,” he said.
“It’s been a lot of expense, and a lot of our time and a lot of stress on my cattle because we need to keep the water up to them.”
The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation said it was continuing to investigate reports relating to the water table and groundwater bores in the area.
Stories from farms and country towns across Australia, delivered each Friday.
