Hailstorm causes varied damage to SA broadacre crops

The patchy hail across the lower and eastern Eyre Peninsula, central Yorke Peninsula, Lower North, Murray Plains, Mallee and Riverland meant some crops escaped scot-free, while others suffered damage upwards of 80 per cent.

Nutrien Cummins agronomist Mick Broad said crops right across the southern EP had been battered in the storm, which hit the region in three fronts starting at 7am.

"There's been damage at Mount Hope, Kapinnie, Murdinga and specific areas around Cummins - the hailstorm wasn't long lasting, but it was coupled with wind and was very intense," he said.

"It's tricky to say what the range in damage is, because the damage was widespread, but in little pockets. There may well be people who haven't found any damage yet, because it's only hit a corner of their place."

Wharminda farmer Caleb Prime was one of the worst-affected farmers in the region, with 1500 hectares of his 4000ha cropping area suffering between 60-100pc damage.

"Every paddock has some sort of damage in it, the rest of the farm has anywhere from 5-35pc damage," he said.

"We've never had hail that bad as long as any of us have been on the farm, especially over such a big area. We have grain and whole heads on the ground, snapped stalks and bruised stalks, which has caused them to bend over."

Mr Prime grows wheat, barley, canola and beans, and said damage severity was mostly based on area, rather than crop type.

On the YP, J&D Southwood agronomist Ian Koch, Maitland, said the majority of croppers fared much better than expected, considering the size of the hailstones.

"There are a few farmers near Ardrossan who had 20-30pc of their barley knocked out and on the western side of Maitland, there are a few lentil crops with 5-10pc damage, but it certainly all could have been a lot worse," he said.

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Mr Koch said he only knew of three of four paddocks in the area that had been "really whacked" by the hail, with everything else patchy.

"A lot of the crops weren't completely ripe when the storm hit, so being a bit less brittle probably saved them a bit," he said.

"Guys up north around Kadina have lost of lot of lentils to wind damage which came later on Thursday - some have 0.25-0.5t/ha on the ground."

Maitland cropper Ben Francis said he was "still pinching himself" at the lack of damage to his wheat and lentil crops, after his property was hit by four waves of hail through the day.

"When the storm was over, I expected to walk out the shed and see snapped stalks everywhere, and that somehow didn't happen," he said.

"The fact that there was no wind (during the hailstorm) certainly worked in our favour."

Mr Francis said yield losses were negligible, with quality more of a concern.

"I've got an assessor looking at two sections, but it would only be 50-100kg/ha (of yield loss) a hectare at a maximum, and only for a few small sections," he said.

"With the lentils there are some damaged pods, and when you open them up there is bruising on the lentils, so whether that shows as a quality issue when we harvest is a big question mark."

In the Lower North, Freeling-based Rural Directions agronomist Tony Craddock said there were localised reports of up to 80pc yield loss for small sections of paddocks, with Freeling and the edges of the Barossa Valley the worst affected in the region.

"We had hailstones 10-15mm in diameter, and very strong wind events, which came through at the same time," he said.

Mr Craddock said canola had seemed to fare OK in the storm, while wheat had suffered more, with grains having been knocked out of heads.

Insight Extension for Agriculture farming systems consultant Chris McDonough, Loxton, said hailstorm damage ranged from 100pc damage in some cereal crops, down to 10-20pc damage in crops that only caught the edge of the storm.

"The first front of hail went right through to Loxton and then to the border, collecting a lot of farmers on the way, then a second wave came from the Adelaide Hills, out to Cambrai and Perponda, which caused some significant damage for farmers along those strips," he said.

Mr McDonough urged croppers to keep an eye on mice numbers in the wake of the storm.

"There's potential for mice problems due to more grain on the ground in those strips, so farmers certainly need to be keeping an eye on what it could mean for mice infestations coming into next year," he said.

With yield potentials sitting at 0.5-1.2t/ha after a tough year in the Mallee, Mr McDonough said further reductions in yields following the hailstorm meant some paddocks would not be harvested, while pasture paddocks also suffered.

"Because of the poor year and the wind, some of those sandy pasture areas are now quite vulnerable, so there will be less paddocks that the farmers are going to be comfortable to put their sheep into," he said.

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