The consistent rain that has beset the Waikato-Hauraki and Northland regions has not only squashed the season’s milk peak but also pushed maize planting back by more than two weeks in the regions that account for almost 60% of the national crop area.
Waikato contractor Darcy Finch said he would have completed just over half the area he would normally have done by late October, with Labour Weekend’s drier weather a welcome window to get more work done.
However, he expected a similar area of maize to go in as last year and while it was the wettest year he ever seen he was not overly concerned about the later planting date.
“If you go back 20 years we would not have been planting anything until Labour Weekend. We have just been doing things earlier but this is still the wettest I can remember seeing it.”
Foundation for Arable Research research manager Mike Parker estimated overall the Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions were probably only 20% of the way through planting and easily running two weeks behind.
“It has been made more difficult by being unable to get silage crops off the paddocks to be cultivated.
“It has turned around a bit in the past week. There is no need to panic unduly at the moment but some growers may shift to shorter-maturing hybrids.”
The South Island was well on target, enjoying an excellent season. Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay were also on target while Northland was running behind.
Te Puke feed supplement supplier and ex-agri contractor Bill Webb said last year experienced a shake-out on maize area grown because of lower dairy payouts. This year was stable, if late in going in.
“We have seen some farmers drop it because they could not get on when they needed to for planting.”
He had noticed a surge in demand for short-maturing hybrid seed, which was increasingly hard to get hold of, also being popular with South Island growers.
“It has been like gold to get but we should have enough of it here now.”
If last season had resulted in a shake-down of farmers committed to continuing to grow maize in lower payout conditions, it had also driven prices as low as growers could afford to take them.
Webb said prices quoted were around 28c/kg drymatter in the stack locally but cartage could push that to nearer 32c/kg DM.
There was a sense of cautious optimism now around farmers’ views for payout this season, which had possibly prompted more to return this year to maize growing.
“There is also a question about what the summer may bring.
“Given how much rain we have had, farmers do wonder if nature will balance that out with a dry summer,” Webb said.
FAR data tracked the slide in maize silage growing since dairy’s tighter times struck.
Maize area for silage peaked in 2014 on the back of a high 2013 payout at 65,000ha nationally.
That dropped back to 50,000ha in 2015, sliding to 41,000ha harvested this year, with expectations that would be similar this season.
