THE BARLEY industry will be closely monitoring the issue of crop lodging in the lead-up to harvest.
Heavy rain and wind has battered barley crops in south-eastern Australia in the past month.
Many parts of SA and Vic have experienced record rainfall for September, raising the risk of waterlogging.
Speaking at the Barley Australia forum in Adelaide last month, outgoing South Eastern Australia Barley Advisory Council chairman Geoff Kendell said the crop looked in its best condition in Vic since 1964.
But heavy rain since could have a negative impact in medium and high rainfall zones, he said, while in the drier Mallee region, there has been issues with lodging, especially in Compass barley.
Farmers are hoping yields will hold up in lodged paddocks, but acknowledge it will be difficult to harvest, requiring the use of crop lifters on harvesting equipment.
The possibility of windrowing barley has also been raised as a way to make harvesting easier and to minimise losses.
Mr Kendell said there had been a shift in the crop composition this season in terms of varieties planted.
“There has been more Scope, Latrobe, Compass and Westminster sown, while the area sown to Hindmarsh, Buloke and Commander has come back,” he said.
Mr Kendell said the wet conditions had meant fungal diseases were a problem.
“Spot form of net blotch and scald are common concerns,” he said.
Paddock access was also limiting farmers’ ability to control fungal disease outbreaks, while Mr Kendell said low prices were of concern.
Feed barley has been heavily impacted by the worldwide glut of feed grain, with many upcountry bids only about $130 a tonne.
“The price is decreasing and in real terms it is at more than 40-year lows,” he said.
SA Barley Advisory Committee chairman Mark Modra said there was also concern about the impact of Russian wheat aphid in barley crops.
“RWA was found in SA first and farmers are nervous, especially as it appears barley is the crop most impacted by the pest,” he said.
He said SA farmers on limestone soils were also worried about snails.
“We can get a fair number of snails in certain areas and the message from export markets, such as the Middle East and China is that they don’t want snails so this could have an impact on exports there,” he said.
Already, China is not taking loads from some SA port zones because of the high numbers of snails.
Representatives from northern Australia and WA said fungicide access could be a big issue if fungal disease pressure remained high.
- More on fungicide supply issues P21