Australia: Record rain devastates farmers ‘looking forward to the harvest of a lifetime’

Record-breaking November rain has challenged some farmers who were looking forward to “the harvest of a lifetime”.

Despite near-ideal conditions during the growing season, rainfall and a shortage of workers in regional Australia have affected the harvest period for some farmers.

This is particularly the case for some grain growers in New South Wales and parts of South Australia.

National Farmers’ Federation Chief Executive Officer Tony Mahar told Sydney radio station 2GB the situation is “really disappointing”, as La Niña brings wetter than average conditions for much of the east coast of Australia.

“They were just looking forward to what, for some, was going to be the harvest of a lifetime,” Mr Mahar told 2GB’s Michael McLaren.

“The crops were just looking so good and they were just really looking really forward to this harvest period.”

However, there are some positives.

Mr Mahar said some farmers managed to harvest their crops early and others have postponed their plans.

He also said he suspected there will be fewer mice problems in some areas.

“We thought that if it was a dry late spring and summer that the mice might come back, but hopefully the rain has put an end to that,” he said.

Nationally, this November is “likely” to be the wettest since 2011, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

Meteorologists also expected last month to be among the 10 wettest Novembers on record for NSW and South Australia.

Numerous flood warnings were issued for rivers in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and in Northern Territory’s south.

Large areas of mainland Australia experienced “more than their average November rainfall”.

The BoM said last week that spring rainfall has been “above to very much above average” for large areas of the eastern states, from western Queensland into the Alice Springs District in the NT, and for parts of southern SA.

“Overall, it is likely to be the wettest spring since 2016,” the BoM said.

Mr Mahar said it was “bittersweet” that the once “bone dry” dams and rivers were now overflowing.

“Farmers ebb and flow with the seasons, of course, but this rain, for a large number of farmers, has come at the wrong time,” he said

Source: 9news.com.au