Berrigan canola crops benefit from spring rain

"We have been very fortunate to have four above average seasons in a row," said Mr Seamer, who operates Ashmoor Farms at Berrigan.

"To have that run of good years is unheard of around here, but we still have to get the grain into the silos."

Last week, his canola harvest was interrupted by 25 millimetres of rain, but he was still happy with the start to harvest.

"Maybe it's not as good as last year, but we have just finished harvesting 42 hectares before the rain and it went 2.8 tonnes per hectare with 44 per cent oil content," Mr Seamer said.

"We are very thankful for another good year.

"The key to this year's good result was the left over subsoil moisture from last year's wet spring."

Mr Seamer also attributed his good yield to favourable rain from when the Clearfield 44Y94 canola variety was sown, beginning April 18.

"We had a couple of timely falls of rain and that was followed by a reasonably wet winter," he said.

"And although September was very dry, we did get 65mm during the first week of October, and with a cool finish during flowering has certainly helped."

Mr Seamer has the option of growing crops under irrigation and he did water the wheat mid September.

He was also planning on a follow-up irrigation during October, but that ended up not being necessary.

"Having the cool spring was equivalent to another rain event because we had the subsoil moisture, especially for our dryland canola," he said.

Mr Seamer has grown the Clearfield hybrid varieties for the past seven years because of their consistency in performance.

"I am very happy with them," he said.

"They certainly seem to be more resilient and hold on longer during tough times.

"And they have a yield advantage over the open pollinated varieties and I am getting better weed control with the variety of chemicals I can use."

Mr Seamer had pre-sold 20pc of his anticipated yield in July, delivered to the GrainCorp silos at Tocumwal.

"I always try to sell a percentage during harvest and hold the balance until next autumn," he said.

"I have done that for a few years and it evens out the cash flow.

"We are also lucky here having four good grain receival sites close by - two in Tocumwal and two in Berrrigan. It gives me some good selling options."

After the harvest, Mr Seamer will be concerned with keeping the weeds under control to conserve as much of the rainfall as possible for next year's crop.

"I usually allow for the dryland canola to yield around 3t/ha, so to harvest 2.8t/ha through this season is not far of my mark," he said.

"Although we have been rain delayed, our canola harvest is about a fortnight earlier than normal, and we expect to start our wheat harvest by the end of November.

"Our Sceptre wheat is still green, but I am anticipating around 5t-6t/ha. If that comes in, we will have had another good year, with a better finish than we could have expected in September when it was dry."