Australia: Above average rainfall for the Mid-West poses a new challenge in the paddock

An exceptional amount of growing season rainfall in the Geraldton zone has given one farmer a new challenge to contend with: fungal disease. Cam Johnson farms at Ogilvie, north of Northampton, where close to 400 millimetres of growing season rainfall fell in a short amount of time. Mr Johnson described the year as expensive after winter rainfall promoted the growth of diseases and spraying needed to be completed by airplane. Overall, this year's rainfall has made for a great crop across all paddocks of canola, wheat and lupins. Now, weeks of temperatures in the high 20 degrees Celsius and drying easterly winds are pulling moisture from the soil profile and are starting to affect the crop. "The crops are looking good, but they're not filling as wide as we were hoping," Mr Johnson said. "It's a great result considering where we were looking at being at the end of May." Mr Johnson said it was difficult to tell what the yield would look like and was already rethinking his harvest ...