Friday, March 29, 2024

Storm has little impact on crops

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Cropping farmers escaped largely unscathed from a southerly storm that hammered Canterbury last Wednesday but watching it for an hour wasn’t pleasant, Federated Farmers arable vice-president Brian Leadley says.
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It was a case of waiting for it to blow through then assessing the damage.

Fortunately and surprisingly, given the severity of the blast that included heavy rain and wind gusts up to 130kmh there was minimal damage, he said.

“There’s a bit of lodging in wheat and some wind damage in grass crops cut and crops waiting to be cut have been shaken a bit but really it’s quite surprising that the damage is very minimal and thank goodness there was no hail with it.”

Harvest is just starting with early wheat and barley dryland crops coming off the paddock better than expected in many cases.

Grass crops are proving a mixed bag with the wet, early start pushing crops ahead of time for optimal pollination combined with the lack of sunshine taking the real potential off many grass seed crops.

“There’s no real disasters at this stage. Pretty much right across cropping regions harvest is just getting under way and as arable farmers we are looking for a few good sunshine weeks ahead.”

While crops benefited from the early rain the wet start has delayed harvest and disease, particularly in cereal crops, has been a problem.

“Disease pressure looks as though it will just hold the real top off some crops, especially in wheat, but hopefully with a few weeks of good sunshine now and extra crop management it won’t be too bad in the end result.

“We need a good, positive year after a couple of tough ones and the forecasts are suggesting we should be in for some pretty warm harvest weather in the coming days at least.”

The Foundation for Arable Research has widespread reports of fusarium head blight in wheat crops throughout Canterbury.

This disease can cause significant yield losses. Grain from affected crops might be less palatable to stock than healthy grain and might contain mycotoxins.

Fusarium head blight of wheat, also known as head scab, is generally buoyed by wet weather and most easily recognised on immature heads where one or more spikelets in each head look prematurely bleached. 

Sometimes large areas of heads can be affected and where infection is severe, pink or orange spore masses can be seen on diseased spikelets. Damaged grains are pink or chalky white and shrivelled.

The reports of the disease highlight the need for farmers to check crops regularly and manage accordingly, Leadley said.

He urged farmers to be vigilant with storage, keeping contaminated grain separate.

Good farm practice will minimise the risk of mycotoxins. Damp grain needs to be dried to minimise risk.

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Harvest and storage advice is available from FAR at www.far.org.nz

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