A state of confusion has enveloped the grain harvesting code of conduct as growers wait to hear what measurement will be used for the cease harvest threshold later this year.
Grain Producers SA has voiced concern at a Country Fire Service proposal to institute a Grassland Fire Danger Index of 40 at 10 metres as the threshold, saying the move would halt headers under "good harvesting conditions" and have massive ramifications for one of the state's biggest industries.
The proposal follows a failed move to using the Fire Behaviour Index.
The GFDI is determined by using wind speed, temperature and relative humidity. Growers have been using a GFDI of 35 at 2m and GPSA says the new proposal is the equivalent of 28-31 at 2m.
But, some say the original cease harvest threshold has been misunderstood for a number of years and the CFS proposal is reasonable.
With the first headers set to rumble in just two months time, GPSA is willing to accept a GFDI of 50 at 10m.
"This is not shutting us down when it's dangerous, this is shutting us down in good harvesting conditions," GPSA chairman Adrian McCabe said.
"As the state's biggest industry last year, it's going to pull the whole industry up several times when we should be harvesting."
Mr McCabe said CFS data presented to GPSA, that there were 41 fire incidents last year, all easily put out, was actually evidence the existing system was working.
'We've got 2000 headers running between October and January so that's actually fantastic compliance and why the code works," he said.
"We see ourselves as very responsible when it comes to safety, which is why we're a signatory of the code and have worked to get it to where it is."
Mr McCabe said the CFS had taken an "absolute zero risk policy" and enforced it on an industry that needs to reap dry grain.
"Twenty-eight is a very low threshold when you consider it needs to be dry before we even start," he said.
Mr McCabe said such a move would push growers into more night work and have massive ramifications for grain handling and trucking businesses as well.
The CFS issued a statement to Stock Journal saying it "continued to work with industry and government to find a resolution to the cease harvest threshold for the upcoming season that supports farming communities and protects life, property and the environment".
Emergency Services Minister Joe Szakacs, who will ultimately decide if the proposal is ticked off, amended or scrapped, said the state government was still reviewing all relevant information about the matter.
"While the government wants this position to be set well in advance of this years harvest, it's also a highly technical and serious matter that should not be rushed," he said.
"Ultimately, we want to support farmers as much as possible because they are so important to our economy, but we must also be cognisant of the coming fire season and take all due steps to protect life and property from the risk of fire."
PROPOSAL COULD HALT COASTAL GROWERS
Paul Daniel, who farms west of Balaklava and has country 10 kilometres from the coastline, said the proposed cease harvest threshold would be particularly problematic for growers in coastal regions.
Mr Daniel took GFDI measurements under a variety of conditions last harvest and said the GFDI of 28 at 2m would have been reached "regularly".
"It's just not workable, that's normal harvest conditions. On a 30 degree day at high 20 kilometre an hour winds, coastal growers will be stopped."
From his observations, Mr Daniel believes the multiplier to convert GFDI at 2m to 10m should be closer to 1.5 than 1.25 when wind speeds are 20-30km/hr.
He said everybody wanted harvesting to be conducted safely, but the proposal went "too far".
"If your public liability was to cut out at that level, you'd need to cease harvesting before that level," he said.
MEASUREMENT MISUNDERSTOOD AND HIGHER LIMIT "A SLIPPERY SLOPE"
A CFS group officer and farmer at Agery on the Yorke Peninsula, Andrew Cadd said he could understand the frustration felt by growers who had been using the 35 at 2m yardstick for more than a decade, but said the original harvest code was intended to put the cease harvest threshold at a GFDI of 35 at 10m.
He said where wind speed had been measured was where much of the confusion lay and the original chart had advised to multiply a 2m measurement by 1.25.
Mr Cadd and his deputy officer Lyall Schulz, a Maitland vineyard owner and cropper, send out fire danger information and warnings, and stop harvest advice messages when needed to more than 500 people on the central YP, predominantly farmers.
Mr Cadd said a GFDI of 40 at 10m should be the "absolute limit" and it was a very "slippery slope" thereafter.
He said a GFDI of 50 at 10m would be "scary" and "place the whole community at high risk of losing property and life".
"While we're harvesting lentils, every hour is probably worth $10,000 to us of crop coming in so there's significant considerations at play here, but on the other side if you cause a significant fire what's the dollar value then to property and possibly lives?" he said.
Mr Cadd said the discussion should be well considered, because the industry could risk facing blanket harvest bans on fire ban days, which would be "unworkable" in SA due to coastal areas having massive variety in fire danger on such days.
"The harvest code of practice must be maintained at all costs and if the cost is 1, 2 or 3 points of GFDI so what. We must maintain the harvest code of practice because it works so well and allows us to harvest on fire ban days when the danger's not present."
GROWERS WANT CLARIFICATION ON WHERE TO MEASURE
Clinton Centre farmer John Davey said conditions could vary drastically across the Yorke Peninsula and knowing that contacted the CSIRO two decades ago to get their formula for the GFDI.
After discovering the formula was based on a 10m height and querying the measurement height that was intended by the harvest code chart, Mr Davey said a CFS officer had told him that measuring at 2 metres while standing in the paddock was the correct height due to workplace safety considerations.
They didn't want growers climbing bins, ladders or getting on the roof of headers to assess conditions and said allowances had been made in the harvest code table to account for the GFDI being measured at 2m, Mr Davey said.
CFS fire captain at Kybybolite and farmer Andrew Shepherd said clarification on each parties position was needed before any decisions were set in stone.
He said croppers in his region had been working off the GFDI measurement of 35 at 2m because that was the height measured from at local weather stations, or what was achievable to be measured by themselves.
