Farmer climate focus - Janine & Christian Powell

Ag Econ’s Janine Powell lives with her family on a farm near Burren Junction. Her husband Christian is part of a family farming operation that is focused around dryland and irrigation farming enterprises, the climate is a huge consideration in their business.

Location snapshot

Catchment:   Namoi Valley (Murray Darling Basin)

Altitude:        163 m

Enterprise:    Broad acre dryland, irrigated farming and livestock

Soils:             Cracking grey vertosols (Plant Available Water 200mm)

Rainfall:        Wet season (Oct-Mar): 63% rainfall
Cool season (Apr-Sep): 37% rainfall

Seasonal rainfall climate drivers: Burren Junction, NSW

Janine & Christian Powell

Burren Junction, NSW

“As broadacre farmers we feel beholden to the weather. Recently it has been too dry, sometimes too wet… rarely do we get the Goldilocks experience of the weather being ‘just right’” Janine explains.

On farm the Powells take into consideration long-term forecasts for planning crop rotations and plantings. While these forecasts can give a good indication of potential climatic patterns, they are well aware that it is not a guarantee of getting (or not getting) rain.

The Powells have a winter cropping program which includes cereals and pulses. “With the wetter 2020 Winter Spring seasonal model forecast in mind, this year we capitalised on the rain that fell in Feb-April by planting all our dryland area to a mix of winter crops”. Like many other farms in the region, it is the first time in 4 years since the full area has been planted.

“Some of our country is slightly undulating with poor drainage, so we hope it’s not a wet at harvest… at this point it’s looking that way.”

“It’s important to understand which factors drive the climate in our region to better manage risk – particularly during our winter cropping growing season”.

Climate literacy allows farmers like the Powells to consider potential climate risks and how they can be mitigated. “With the wetter outlook, we did contemplate leaving out some of our lower laying paddocks fallow but decided the opportunity cost was too high. Instead we planted those areas to lower cost cereals – if they get waterlogged or even flooded prior to harvest – we won’t have lost too much money.”

The Powells utilise silo bags for temporary on farm storage. “In the past we’ve ensured they were on raised pads and in accessible positions for trucks. This year we are looking at increasing the size of the areas allocated for the bags and potentially improving the road accessibility to some of them.”

When asked which rainfall models they look to for shorter forecasts they both use Meteologix. “It’s a great overview of what many of the international models are predicting, I like to take a rough average of the models as an indication, but the high and low also give a potential range of what you might expect.”

This year to date the Powells have had 392 mm of rain. May and June turned out dryer than expected with a total of just 25 mm. Rainfall for July and August totalled 74 mm and they have their hopes on high September rainfall to finish the winter crop.

“During rainfall events we are glued to the BOM radar and then afterwards we are on OzForecast seeing where the rain fell locally.” Janine likes looking at the broader BOM image of the state or Australia image to see the overall movement of the system, whereas Christian likes to be zoomed in to see where (and on who’s farm) the rain is falling. The Powells recently installed a Davis weather station that is linked to the OzForecast network to see real and accurate on farm weather data. “The purchase may have also been prompted by one too many disappointing instances of the gauge over reading due to an ill placed sprinkler!”

“Certainly, for the bigger picture it’s important to have an understanding of the cyclical nature of Indian ocean Dipole and El Niño-Southern Oscillation phases. Access to good quality climate information can help our farming business make better decisions, more often”.

Across Australia the 2020 Winter crop is forecast at 47.9 million tonnes 64% higher than last year and 20% higher than the 10-year average (ABARES September Crop Report). Janine is encouraged by this outlook, “A decent winter crop will be a real help to Australian farmers, the Ag sector and the broader Australian economy – it’s what we all need”.

Have a farming climate story to share? Please contact us.

January 1st 2020, Dry rivers and wondering if it will be another cropless year

Planting in APRIL on the back of good rain Feb-Apr

September crop inspection - Faba beans

September - the faba beans are filling the pods.