Grain farmers look to the sky.

West Australian farmers in crisis

Grain farmers look to the sky as the dry drags on. They forecast no significant rainfall for the next seven days, so we expect the current dry spell to last well into next month. The weather forecast for the next three months has an overall prediction of a drier than normal season.
The lack of rain over the summer meant there was virtually no sub soil moisture in many areas.
Grain farmer, Noel Fowler, said his property recorded just thirty millimetres of rain since August last year. That arrived six weeks ago, too early to benefit his crop, and it has since evaporated or been lost. Mr Fowler is about to finish his full 1600 hectare cropping programme into the dry, dusty soil.


This is my hometown of Perth Western Australia, after a record hot summer, everyone was looking forward to the cooler months. From June the first, this means a reticulation ban, and we rely on Mother Nature to supply the water for our gardens. In Western Australia the three months of Winter are often the only time we get any rainfall for the year. If it doesn’t arrive, it will be classed as a disaster.
“But it’s not time to panic yet, if it hasn’t rained by the end of June, then we can start to worry,” so says a spokesman for the Association of Agriculture Consultants.
Words 229