Winter crops are off to a fantastic start for the 2020 season thanks to some much-needed rainfall throughout April providing an opportunity for our growers to establish their crops with good
moisture. Sub-soil moisture is good across many of our soil types which will stand our crops
in good stead to reach their full potential, if the season allows. 

Irrigated winter crops have established well on fallow paddocks with emphasis now being put on optimising yield and assessing different water use strategies to maximise our returns per megalitre. Nitrogen management is critical in this and should correspond with the irrigation strategy that is being adopted. Winter crops planted following a summer crop (rice/cotton/corn) have proved challenging due to the excessive moisture we have had to deal with. Some paddocks that had a summer crop planted were left out for the winter season, and scheduled for another summer crop in 2021. 

Early sown dryland crops have benefitted from good early rainfall and growing conditions which has led to significant quantities of feed for those with livestock, and good bulk and root development for those who are looking to push grain yields. A good, well-timed rainfall within the next couple of months will help these crops reach full potential. 

Currently, Yenda Producers has two winter trials in place, one for the irrigation system in Benerembah and the other on a dryland system in Binya. Both are assessing different varieties, fertiliser treatments and fungicide treatments and are an effective way of gauging new products and practices. This helps us to assess how we may be able to improve what we are currently doing, so we will keep everyone posted on how these trials progress within the coming months.