Drought

Xerion

Member
Location
Deutschland
Mais harvest has started here in Germany !!!
If you can call it a harvest .


Looking at the number plates on the kit this is in west germany Over here in the East they have even less
From the 4th of April until today we have had 64.9 mm of rain !!!!!
Grain harvest finished last week with reports of over 70% losses


Max
 

Spear

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Devon
Walked in 1 field of maize yesterday. 3-4ft high with tiny cobs and some with none[emoji22]
Couldn’t face looking at the others as that’s normally our best field.
 

Spear

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Devon
IMG_5767.JPG

With just over 25mm of rain in last 4weeks there’s still no sign of much happening to the grass. Scratch the surface and there’s no moisture below. Though forecast is for more rain this weekend and skies look full of it. Just seems to keep missing us.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
New
August 6 2018 - 7:00AM
Farmers need to call out climate risks

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On January 3, 2014 we had an extraordinary hot day. It was regarded as a one in 100-year event, and it knocked hundreds of millions of dollars of summer crop production in the region.



In February 2017 it happened again, coupled with a record-breaking period of continuous extreme heat. So much for one in a 100; it now feels like the new normal.

In my farming business, the impact of a changing climate is already evident and seriously harmful. As we continue to witness record-breaking weather event after record-breaking weather event, the government stands by.

I’m now convinced more than ever that, by setting a lowball target of only 26 per cent reduction in emissions from the energy sector, the federal government is failing to grasp the reality of what happens if we continue to compromise our nation’s agricultural capacity.

As farmers, we need to stand up and call out genuine risks to our industry. If we don’t act on climate change now, we are condemning our livelihoods and all future generations to oblivion.

The simplest and most cost-effective way of reducing carbon emissions lies in transitioning the static electricity generation industry to renewables.

Regional Australia presents an amazing opportunity for decentralised, 5-10 megawatt solar installations at a fraction of the cost of large-scale solar.

The award-winning Chillamurra solar farm near Goondiwindi has proven this, by using smaller panels to save up to 40 per cent on construction costs.

Australian farmers are extremely resilient when it comes to managing production and market volatility. But climate change will soon put more pressure on our systems than ever before, meaning we can no longer survive on our own.

Energy and policy settings built around electoral cycles and destructive back bench capitulations are completely at odds with the long-term needs of our economy and the foundations of our society.

In the context of energy policy, the national interest is best served through a planned and orderly transition to clean energy and a much higher emissions reduction target for the energy sector.

In the end we are all just stewards of the land, with a responsibility to pass it on to future generations in good condition, or preferably better than we received it. Australia can and must show global leadership on mitigating carbon emissions now.

Peter Mailler is a grain producer from Goondiwindi, Queensland.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
I seen this earlier. We are having it easy really compared to those poor folk.
Got to feel for @Farmer Roy
And all the other farmers down under suffering from this.
Hope it improves for you sooner than later.

Defying the drought: Farmers who have braced for the big dry
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Landline


By Marty McCarthy, Aneeta Bhole

Updated about 2 hours ago
First posted about 9 hours ago

Many farmers face difficult decisions during times of drought — and having a 'disaster plan' for the 'worst-worst' situation can make the upturn during good weather much quicker

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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Many farmers face difficult decisions during times of drought — and having a 'disaster plan' for the 'worst-worst' situation can make the upturn during good weather much quicker

Landline: Marty McCarthy

There is a drought spreading across eastern Australia and while it is severe it is not our worst. At least not yet.

Drought story stream
Australia's drought coverage






Farmers face difficulty across NSW and QLD with costs of stock feed and transport spiralling.

There are two major droughts which are stuck in the Australian psyche.

The 1895 to 1902 Federation Drought, during which the Darling and Murray Rivers ran dry, and the Millennium Drought which ran from late 1996 to mid-2010 and severely affected most southern cropping areas.

In southern parts of Australia, droughts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have been found to be the worst in the last 400 years, and experts predict they will become more prevalent in the future.

For some farmers, the millennium drought was a turning point where they realised that if they wanted to keep farming in Australia they needed to embrace rather than battle an often unpredictable climate.


Dams are drying out in drought stricken parts of Australia.

(Landline: Ben Deacon and Marty McCarthy)

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Dams are drying out in drought stricken parts of Australia.

Landline: Ben Deacon and Marty McCarthy

Spending money when there is none
In NSW's central west, farmers Laurie and John Chaffey have seen and read the stories about farmers in drought shooting starving livestock that they cannot afford to feed.

The Chaffeys don't ever want to be in that position, and that meant being prepared for this drought and future ones.


The Chaffeys said they came up with a plan in November to preg-test their cows and anything not in calf went, even though they were loved dearly.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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The Chaffeys said they came up with a plan in November to preg-test their cows and anything not in calf went, even though they were loved dearly.

Landline: Marty McCarthy

Cash flow is low at the moment, but the Chaffeys are investing in building drought lots — small pens where the mothers can give birth and still have access to plenty of food and water.

"You have got to have ewes in a good condition that they want to stay with the lamb and not toddle off where it's dropped," Mr Chaffey said.

"The lots will increase our lamb survival, so at the end we'll hopefully have a good lambing percentage and we'll protect the ewes with good nutrition.


Sheep eating grain on a drought affected property in New South Wales

(Marty McCarthy)
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Sheep eating grain on a drought affected property in New South Wales

Marty McCarthy

The Chaffeys livestock nutritionist, Nikki Henderson, says she wants to see more farmers in drought-affected areas plan ahead to avoid having animals starving in paddocks.

"This is definitely [an] uncommon thing for this area but it's great what the Chaffeys are doing," she said.

"I've spent a lot of time in Victoria and South Australia and other areas and I see a lot more people setting up this sort of drought-lotting infrastructure for lambing and drought feeding."

In addition to the new drought lots, the Chaffeys also have two sheds full of hay, and three years ago installed silos to store grain as well as grain they wrapped in plastic and buried 20 years ago.

"Every drought is different and it is all about compromise and adjustment, the further you get the further you need to think about how you can prepare next," Mr Chaffey said.


Figures from the Department of Primary Industries show that all of NSW is affected by the dry conditions, and almost one-quarter classified as being in 'intense drought'.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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Figures from the Department of Primary Industries show that all of NSW is affected by the dry conditions, and almost one-quarter classified as being in 'intense drought'.

Landline: Marty McCarthy

Ms Henderson, who has clients throughout the central west, said many people are still holding out for rain rather than putting a long-term feeding strategy in place.

"There are people out there that I'm going to see who you set up with plans and talk about costs to feed through calving and they are still sitting back waiting and not planning ahead far enough to budget those feeds," she said.

Heidi Austin, a district vet with North West Local Land Services, said it can be difficult for farmers faced with the stress and pressure of drought to forward plan. They are just trying to get by day to day.


It might be dry now — but there is always hope and having diversity in property means you can work with the weather more.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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It might be dry now — but there is always hope and having diversity in property means you can work with the weather more.

Landline: Marty McCarthy

He lets his pastures rest by reducing most of his livestock. Currently, he only has 20 per cent of his usual herd.

Instead, he "flogs it" when it rains. That doesn't necessarily mean waiting for autumn or winter. It means waiting for rainfall, regardless of what time of year it comes.


"When it rains it's like bringing in the herds across the Serengeti — when the grass is there we move them on, and when it isn't we move them off," Mr Kerin said.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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"When it rains it's like bringing in the herds across the Serengeti — when the grass is there we move them on, and when it isn't we move them off," Mr Kerin said.

Landline: Marty McCarthy

"The animals put on weight quicker, which if you've matched stocking rate to capacity, means you've got them at a saleable weight a lot quicker before the season turns on you again."

As state and federal governments tinker away on policies to encourage farmers to prepare for drought, Mr Kerin says the push should come from farmers themselves.

"It's not so much about what governments can do. It's about if you want to change, if the need for change inside of you is enough to make you want to build a better future," he said.

"The adaption part. You have to tip out everything you know and re-establish a new paradigm of how to do business."

Grass growth and green days
Grazier Ardie Lord from Sutherland Station in north-west Queensland doesn't like to use the word drought, even though he's technically been in one for five years.

This year he's only had half his annual rainfall — which he refers to as a "light year" — but he looks for the positives in it.


"I might be running a small number of animals but it just feels more comfortable for me to acknowledge I'm just having a light year and to be in balance with that," Mr Lord said.

(Aneeta Bhole)

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"I might be running a small number of animals but it just feels more comfortable for me to acknowledge I'm just having a light year and to be in balance with that," Mr Lord said.

Aneeta Bhole

Mr Lord uses grazing charts to plan 12 months in advance. If he doesn't think he has enough grass to feed his current herd through to the next wet season he begins to destock.


The cost of feeding those animals and physical demands of getting food to the animals each day tires many farmers during drought.

(Landline: Aneeta Bhole)

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The cost of feeding those animals and physical demands of getting food to the animals each day tires many farmers during drought.

Landline: Aneeta Bhole

The stress during drought often comes from trying to maintain a large herd size even if they don't have the pasture to feed it.

"If we are having a light year and we're running the appropriate amount of animals it's pretty stress-free," Mr Lord said.

He cautioned farmers against letting their livestock get skinny, to a point they can't be sold.

"It's risky because that's our cashflow and that's our future, so if the animals are losing weight it means we're losing cashflow," he said.


"We know what it's like to go through drought previously, so I feel sad for those in that position of being tight financially," Mr Marshman said.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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"We know what it's like to go through drought previously, so I feel sad for those in that position of being tight financially," Mr Marshman said.

Landline: Marty McCarthy

"Trees are fairly resilient so they continue to grow even when rainfall is deficient, but with livestock we all know once it gets dry the money also dries up," Mr Marshman said.

Carbon farming for Mr Marshman means letting mulga regrow in paddocks where grass once did, and sheep used to graze. He can keep the cattle, because they don't pose a threat to the mulga.


Mulga growing near Bourke in New South Wales as part of carbon farming project

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

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Mulga growing near Bourke in New South Wales as part of carbon farming project

Landline: Marty McCarthy

The mulga stores carbon, and the Federal Government buys that storage space off him, through the Clean Energy Regulator, in a bid to reduce Australia's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

"I would hate to think what sort of position we'd be in if we didn't have the regular income stream from the carbon farming," Mr Marshman said.


Sights like this dry dam on a farm in New South Wales make it hard to stay positive — but 'putting wood on the fire' won't help.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy and Ben Deacon)


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Sights like this dry dam on a farm in New South Wales make it hard to stay positive — but 'putting wood on the fire' won't help.

Landline: Marty McCarthy and Ben Deacon

Geoff Dunstan, a grazier from Cunnamulla in Queensland who also has turned to carbon farming, agrees.

"In a drought you're usually going backwards financially and rapidly working flat out, but at least being in the carbon trade you've got income coming in over that bad period," Mr Dunstan said.


Agricultural flexibility is key if you don't know how much or when you are going to get rain.

(Landline: Marty McCarthy)

10088914-3x2-thumbnail.jpg

Agricultural flexibility is key if you don't know how much or when you are going to get rain.

Landline: Marty McCarthy

"We've moved a percentage of our cattle there to feed them, it's a lot easier to manage a smaller acreage when feeding livestock," Mr Marshman said.

He's also bought a third property at Narromine in NSW — it's insurance against drought, but also any potential collapse in the carbon-farming sector.

"We have a property in a higher rainfall area now and when it's dry here we can move livestock there. We have gone for more livestock properties so we aren't just reliant on the carbon farming," he said.

"You never know when the next drought will hit you so be prepared, invest in infrastructure that helps you be a bit more resilient in dry times that are not expected."

You can see the story on Landline on ABC TV at 12:30pm or on iview.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya



Timmy Hood shared a post.
· 27 mins ·



Lucy Gallagher
August 10 at 12:39 AM ·


We’ve been hearing a helluva lot about this drought lately and how bad it is for farmers. Well, I know firsthand, this is true. It’s bad for farmers. So far ...we’ve had a quarter of the rain we would normally expect to this point in an average year. A quarter! That’s proper bad. The ground is dry, grass won’t grow, livestock can’t do. When livestock can’t do, the farmer has the choice to either feed or sell. Either way, the farmer loses. If the farmer feeds, there is a massive financial cost, and a massive time and energy cost – both potentially crippling. If the farmer sells, a short-term income from the sale of breeding stock means long-term production potential is foregone. It’s all bad.

The thing is, nobody seems to be talking about the other people who are affected by drought. Like the Spray Contractors… They are usually needed before sowing begins, to prepare paddocks by eradicating the weeds that zap moisture and compete for nutrients with the crop. Spray Contractors are highly sought-after professionals when farmers are getting ready to plant… when the soil has a nice moisture profile… like, after it rains.

And the Contract Harvesters. Man, are they doing it tough. These are the good people who invest significant dollars into purchasing and maintaining their equipment so that they can reliably and efficiently harvest farmers’ crops when the time is right. No rain – no crops - no harvest.

Sheep and cattle numbers are dropping at an alarming rate in this country as farmers sacrifice their breeders to the saleyards. When the drought breaks there will be a demand for re-stockers, and it will take considerable time and money to re-build numbers. In the meantime, the people who service the livestock industry like Contract Musterers, Pregnancy Scanners, Livestock Transport Businesses and Rural Merchandise Outlets to name a few, are not going to get work like they once did, before it stopped raining.

It’s all bad. If you are a Farm Contractor, you should know us farmers have got your back. We may not show it, or say it, so I’m saying it for all of us: Hang in there, do what you’ve got to do to survive, but remember, it’s going to rain one day soon and we’re going to need your help once again.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Peter Mailler’s Farm was the first farm I started custom harvesting on back in 2003. Good times:)
Think they were one of the pioneers of CTF if I remember correctly .. maybe? Or they developed Beeline guidance. Do you know him @Farmer Roy ?

yeah, they developed the original Beeline guidance auto steer in the 90's, that was commercialised many years before John Deere, Trimble & others came to the party
they would certainly be very early adopters of CTF, zero till, & other technologies

no, I don't know him personally

I
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
You can't help farmers if you won't tackle climate change, farmer tells government
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Goondiwindi grain and cattle producer Peter Mailler says heat and inconsistent rain have made farming so tough he thinks his parents' five MW solar farm could be a better bet. Wayne Pratt
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by Ben Potter

Peter Mailler, a third-generation grain and cattle grower who sent pregnant cows for slaughter this week because he can't feed them all, has a message from drought-stricken northern NSW to the Turnbull government.

It is aimed especially at the Nationals and their former leader Barnaby Joyce – against whom Mr Mailler ran in last December's byelection – as well as ex-PM Tony Abbott and other coal power-friendly Coalition figures.

First, don't pretend to champion drought-struck farmers if you're not prepared to tackle climate change – because the increasing frequency of extremely hot, dry weather is compounding the effects of drought by impairing crops' ability to use what rain they do get.

Second, don't talk about giving coal-fired power "a free kick" in the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) when a full accounting of its environmental costs will tell you not that we can't afford to close coal plants but that "we can't afford to run one tomorrow".

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Peter Mailler says agriculture is working towards becoming carbon neutral but it is a challenge because it uses so much diesel fuel for machinery and transport. Wayne Pratt
Third, don't lean on high-risk, struggling industries like agriculture for deeper carbon emissions cuts when the stable, regulated electricity industry can obviously bear a larger share of the burden.

Last, the impacts of climate change on farming families threaten the survival of the Nationals' support base in rural and regional Australia, so it is time for the Coalition to dispense with "undermining science" and have an honest debate about climate change.

"In a normal year we produce enough grain to feed about 7000 families and I am flat out educating my kids," Mr Mailler tells The Australian Financial Review from his near 2420-hectare property near Goondiwindi on the NSW-Queensland border.

"I actually don't see a pathway for my kids to come back – and some of them want to." His parents built a five-megawatt solar farm on their property when they retired and he thinks this could be a better bet.

Mr Mailler says the conversation needs to be more robust. "If Turnbull and his cohort are nor prepared to diligently install some truth in the debate then what's the point?" he says.

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Coal-friendly coailtion MPs Craig Kelly, Eric Abetz, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Andrews are doing farmers no favours, Peter Mailler says. Alex Ellinghausen
First, "you cannot fix the energy problem if you are going to ignore climate ... because you are working on the wrong set of assumptions", says Mr Mailler, who trained as an agricultural scientist before returning to his parents' farm and then striking out on his own.

A 'free kick' for electricity
That makes it "disingenuous" and "hypocritical" for Mr Joyce to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers and say "we have got to do something about the drought and not say we have got to do something about climate change".

Mr Mailler says politicians have the resources to find out the truth "yet we have politicians who spend all their time trying to undermine science and create doubt".

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Moree in northern NSW sweated through an unprecedented heatwave in January and February of 2017. Supplied
"The science [of man-made global warming] is pretty unequivocal and the idea that you can subvert it and create doubt is not just irresponsible, it's diabolical," he says.

"They are talking about trying to claw back more emissions from agriculture and they are talking about giving electricity a free kick. It's ridiculous."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg will propose a "coal-friendly" side deal for the NEG at Tuesday's party room meeting to try to win over climate change sceptics.

Critics say the NEG is already too coal-friendly because it only requires a pro rata 26 per cent carbon emissions cut from the electricity sector. CSIRO advised the government that grid emissions would have to be cut by 52 per cent to 70 per cent for Australia to meet the government's Paris pledge for an economy-wide 26 per cent cut because it is much more costly to cut emissions in other industries.

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Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will try to win backbench sceptics over the NEG with a coal-friendly side-deal. Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Mailler says agriculture is itself working towards becoming carbon neutral but it is a challenge because agriculture uses so much diesel fuel for machinery and transport.

"The hardest thing to solve is transport. The simplest thing to change is static electricity. If you look at it, coal-fired power generators are coming to the end of their life. The idea that you could have politicians effectively saying we should build more of them and have them for another 50 years is absurd."

Heat and rain: Double whammy
Mr Mailler's position is influenced by bitter experience as well as science. In January 2014, the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station at Moree recorded a record high of 47.3 degrees Celsius, and everyone said it was "a one-in-a-hundred year event".

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Yallourn coal-fired power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. Carla Gottgens
That one day wiped out crops and cost the region hundreds of millions of dollars in production, he says. But it didn't get the same attention as losses from cyclones, which are more visible.

In February last year the one-in-a-hundred year event happened again, only this time it came with a record run of days over 35 degrees.

Biochemical reactions like photosynthesis are optimised at 37-38 degrees. But at extreme high temperatures plants go into shock and the photosynthesis process is degraded.

As well, rain is increasingly coming in big dumps followed by dry spells, which make it harder for young plants to get going than if less rain falls more frequently.

"In some of those scenarios we have adequate moisture but we can't handle the heat. People are unable to get ahead. Even though some of those years before we have had significant rainfall, the way it's fallen in big dumps has been problematic and the heat has meant we are not able to use that rainfall as effectively as we have in the past."

Recent analysis in the McIntyre Valley indicates that irrigators' water use efficiency is down 30 per cent, and for dryland farmers 60 per cent, Mr Mailler says. Another measure is the inability to get consecutive good years or even one in five – the minimum to build resilience – for more than 20 years.

The last really good year in his region was 1996, Mr Mailler says – which gave him the confidence to strike out on his own.

"I have no doubt that in my lifetime weather patterns have shifted significantly. I don't know many farmers who would dispute that the climate has changed," he says.


"And it's obviously going to get worse."
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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