Croppers pull up on EP while the state waits for a big wet

At Darke Peak on the Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Hayden Schubert has stopped his seeding program due to the weather and is instead focusing on ameliorating soil while waiting for a rain break.

"We're just a bit worried the pre-emergent chemicals aren't gonna work properly and it's putting a lot of pressure on them waiting for the rain," he said.

"Since none of what we've planted is gonna come up because it is so dry, we might as well just wait until it gets a bit closer to the rain and then that will make sure the chemicals work properly.

"In the meantime, we're doing some deep ripping around the property and the strips we are doing will turn into a bit of a trial for us to see what kind of yields we get from it."

Since starting his program in the last few weeks, Mr Schubert said he had planted a small amount of barley in addition to some feed paddocks.

"This year, we're going to plant nearly 2000 hectares and I think we'll stick to our plan," he said.

"We just hope once it starts raining it keeps raining.

"We had a bigger rain in January but since then we've had less than 10 millimetres.

"This is probably as dry as it has been which is pretty unusual, so we'll see how it plays out."

Mr Schubert said he was subscribed to a long range weather forecast, which is predicting rain in the next 14 days or so.

Although dry seeding may cause concern for mice numbers, Mr Schubert said because the farm was so dry there were no mice populations on the farm.

"Being this dry, they have to travel so far for water so they're not really around," he said.

"We also run quite a lot of stock so we don't have huge mice issues here.

"Another positive of it being so dry is there's no green bridge for weeds, but we'd prefer the rain."

Max Baldiserra, Bawdens Rural, Tumby Bay, said some growers had stopped their program for the time being, while others were seeding very slowly or had not started at all.

"They're waiting for rain to come or even be forecast before they really get into it," he said.

"At the moment, there's nothing forecasts so a lot of guys are sitting idle, doing other farm jobs and and waiting.

"In the same token, feed paddocks have been sown or will be sewing."

Mr Baldissera said if there wasn't rain in the not-so-distant future canola could possibly be scrapped from people's programs.

"It's getting pretty late to put in canola, especially in the next two weeks," he said.

"But it plays on people's rotations as well which is very important for weed control and residual herbicide management.

"I think there will be some people that do scrap canola, if their rotations will allow it and if their weed burdens will allow it.

"But I think you're right in the next 10 to 14 days that'll be a serious conversation I'll be having if there's no rain on the way."

Further west, Nutrien West Coast agronomist Jake Hull said most of his clients hadn't started their programs yet.

"May 20 is the historic average for us to start, but Anzac Day is really the ideal date," he said.

"We're not late yet but obviously it hasn't rained and it doesn't look like it's gonna rain in the next 10 days.

"We're looking to a June start but there'll be a fair bit gone in dry by then I would've thought."

While the average start date is only just upon them, Mr Hull said stress would be mounting with growers as rain has not been forecast for the region.

"The further we go without a reasonable forecast in that 10 day period, the more telling the stress will be I guess," he said.

"As we get into June we get colder, we get slower growth, all that kind of thing so and our finishes here and not always kind, we we want to be flowering in early September not late."

The region's planned canola area has taken a hit due to the dry weather according to Mr Hull, with lentils also possibly decreasing.

Although the weather is drier than usual for the state, Mr Hull said growers had experienced similar years and were more confident in dry seeding practices.

"We're also lucky with the wheat varieties we have now that are super quick and good yielding," he said.

"But it hasn't rained here for six months basically, so there's not a lot of moisture around at all.

"And the more condensed our season outlook becomes the confidence will drop."

While some regions received rain in the past 48 hours, Mr Hull said none had fallen in his region and a small shower would do more harm than good.

"3mm to 5mm would kind of scare the guys that have got stuff in the ground," he said.

"It could cause swelling of seeds and stuff like that.

"We really need a decent 15mm to 20mm."

Grain Producers SA's seeding and season outlook survey found more than 60 per cent of growers started seeding in April or earlier, dry sowing before the season's break.

The survey of almost 120 grain producers undertaken in April and May 2024, showed almost 30pc of growers were still waiting for rain before starting their seeding program.

GPSA chief executive officer Brad Perry said the lack of rain to kickstart the season had meant tough decisions on cropping programs had already been made by some grain producers.

"With 83pc of grain producers indicating they were seeding into dry soil and only 3pc sowing into wet soil, growers need a saturating rain to get germination underway in most cropping regions," he said.

"From the feedback in the survey, it appears that in many rotations plans to plant canola have been scaled back due to the lack of starting rain and the late timing of the season.

"In the past decade, there's been instances in SA of quite late breaking rains into June so grain producers are optimistic about that much needed moisture coming soon."

The survey found 61pc of grain producers started seeding in April or earlier, 83pc were seeding into dry soil and grain producers rated their confidence for the season ahead as an average of six out of 10.

A total of 73pc were changing crop rotations this year, predominantly due to the dry conditions and putting in more crop with less livestock on-farm,

Interestingly, 77pc of growers were not planting more barley with the removal of China tariffs, while 18pc were and 2pc planned to next season.

Mr Perry said nearly half of the grain producers surveyed indicated they wouldn't be changing what they planted from the previous season.

"Of those who are changing their rotations from last season to this season, the top choices are lentils - 27pc, wheat - 24pc, barley - 24pc, canola - 12pc, oats - 11pc, lupins - 9pc, vetch - 9pc, hay - 9pc and beans - 7pc," he said.

"We also asked grain producers what new wheat varieties they were considering planting as part of their rotations and Tomahawk CL Plus, Matador, Soaker, Patron and Genie were the top picks."