Wet spring goes against the grain

Photo / Supplied.

After two world record grain yields, Carrfields are working with farmers to cope with wet spring planting.

A national agribusiness company is now putting its world record knowledge to work to help grain farmers cope with an unusually wet spring planting season.

Carrfields Grain & Seed are enormously proud that Ashburton farmer Eric Watson recently made it two in a row for New Zealand with world record grain yields.

Eric Watson's February wheat crop weighed in at a whopping 16.8 tonnes a hectare (grown from Carrfields' wheat variety Oakley) and has been officially recognised as the highest yield of wheat by the venerable Guinness Book of World Records.

This yield tops the previous world record of 16.5 tonnes a hectare, held by a farmer from the United Kingdom (the average New Zealand wheat yield is approximately 12 tonnes a hectare.)

Carrfields also provided the cultivar for the world's highest yielding barley crop, grown by Timaru locals Warren and Joy Darling in 2015.

The Darlings broke a 25-year-old record with their impressive barley yield of 13.8 tonnes a hectare, with the Carrfields winter barley variety 776.

"It's fantastic these world records have both been set right here in Canterbury and we're immensely proud both farmers are Carrfields' customers," says Phil Smith, Carrfields' cereal seed manager.

"It's humbling to see all the work we have put in with our breeders to develop the best seeds for our customers now come to fruition with two world-beating yields in two years."

The cultivars used in both these record-smashing yields were developed by Carrfields to grow optimally in New Zealand conditions. Smith says growers are likely to be in the midst of spring growing season now, with some key cereal crops being planted out.

"Planting any later will delay the harvest until late March or April, which causes problems replanting autumn crops," he says.

Barley is the largest spring-grown cereal in New Zealand; it is often planted after winter feed crops such as kale, rape and turnips are harvested. Oats are the smallest of the three crops, primarily grown for feed and milling.

Spring planting of these seeds allows growers to replace the winter feed area to control weeds and improve soil fertility of old pasture before the grass is renewed.

Smith explains spring crops are faster to establish themselves than winter cereals; although they often have a lower yield in grain, they make a useful (and quick) cash crop while grounds are awaiting replanting of another winter crop.

Unfortunately for farmers, this year's wet spring (which follows a wet winter and autumn) has hampered a lot of the regular spring planting. Late planting can have significant flow-on effects when it comes to planting and harvesting over subsequent seasons.

"The main risk of late planting in spring is that it can cause a late harvest, which has a massive impact on planting winter crops," says Smith - an impact which can create a "never-ending circle of poor yields and delayed harvests".

Such delays can also limit the options for autumn planting, meaning income from high-value crops such as vegetable, clover and ryegrass seeds is disadvantaged.

Mitigating the effects of wet conditions is outside the realm of human influence; no one has control over the weather, says Smith: "Unfortunately, Mother Nature has the final say."

It is just a matter of making the best out of what nature throws at farmers.

"On all arable farms, a wet season has to be managed as best as possible to work around difficult soil conditions to give the best opportunity to create income from the ground available."