Farmers hit by harsh frost turning their best ever canola crops into hay

This year’s canola crop had promised to be Terry Walker’s best in 40 years of farming in southern New South Wales, but an unseasonably late frost means he will be lucky to harvest anything at all.

“To be that cold, minus fives and sixes, that’s out of the box,” he said of the frosty mornings that struck the region in mid-September.

Mr Walker said the conditions at Ariah Park affected the oilseeds’ development in the plant pods.

“You peel the pods back and look to see what vital seeds are left, and you can see all of those … are completely dead little brown seeds that have shrivelled up,” he said.

Mr Walker planted 1,200 hectares of canola this year and said the damage was variable.

“We were probably three weeks away from windrowing into grain when the frost came through, and the extent [of the damage] we’re still weighing that up,” he said.

 “But we’ve had some paddocks that are up to 90 to 100 per cent loss.”

Widespread impacts

Frost damage has been reported in cropping areas across South Australia, western Victoria and southern NSW.

NSW Department of Primary Industries grains technical specialist, Peter Matthews, said winter crop production in the south of the state could have been cut by up to 20 per cent.

However, he said rainfall of between 15 to 40 millimetres in the last week would help dry crops and compensate for the damage caused by the sub-zero temperatures.

“It will shore up what grain is there and give those crops an opportunity to fill the remaining grain,” Mr Matthews said.

Mr Matthews said growers’ decisions about what action to take would depend on the damage in individual crops.

“Crops that may have suffered up to 50 per cent damage, maybe a little bit higher, they’re still worth going through the harvest because it maintains their rotations, maintains their farming systems and next year they’ll be in a better position,” he said.

“They’re not going to get the same return in terms of yield … but they’re still going to make money and clear all their input costs.”

Salvaging some financial return

Mr Walker has already cut the worst affected paddocks of canola for hay but is hoping that 20mm of rain will mean that he can harvest a small amount of oilseed from other areas.

“It won’t be a lot, we’d still be 50 per cent [cut in production], but the hay market I think it might get flooded with canola hay and it’s a risk,” he said.

Coolamon farmer Scott Bradley has decided making hay is the best way to salvage something from his 200 hectares of frost-damaged canola.

“I don’t think it’s enough to really warrant going in windrowing and harvesting,” he said.

“We’ve got our own haymaking gear, so we’ll just knock it down and wrap it up for hay.

“We’ve got a got a heap of cattle on, so if we can put it through them and try and make some money out of them while they’re good for the moment, why not?”

However, Mr Bradley said this would still hurt the bottom line.

“It’s a real big financial hit, that’s the worst part and going ahead, we’ll have to have a few little yarns with bank managers,” he said.

“I think the droughts were the easier years to get through than something like this where you could see the potential to be there but [now] it’s gone.”

Northern crops fairing better

As growers in the south of the state deal with the fallout of severe frost, those in northern areas have managed to escape the damage.

When temperatures dipped across the New England north-west region a fortnight ago, some were worried that wheat, barley and chickpeas close to harvest could be affected.

Walgett agronomist Peter Meppem has been out checking crops and said the damage so far was minimal.

“Fortunately for us, the time under frost in areas was quite low, so the crops weren’t that heavily impacted,” he said.

“We have managed to escape without any losses … but it’s very unfortunate for the guys down south.”