Agronomist Greg Rummery
Walgett farmer and Agronomist with Outlook Ag (an agronomic consultancy covering NW NSW), Greg Rummery recently shared with Ag Econ’s Janine Powell, how climate is considered in his role as an agronomist.
Climate knowledge or advice hasn’t been part of the traditional role for an Agronomist - how have you seen this evolve over the years. And how might this evolve in the future?
You’re right, but the weather and in particular rainfall is always a topic of conversation and probably more so when working in lower rainfall and variable rainfall environments. So climate advice has always been an underlying theme even in the early years at Walgett and becoming more of an advice topic over the recent decade that for us at least has been played by unrelenting drought. A few agronomists have links to private forecasters and subscription type climate and rainfall advice has become more popular, some with dubious understandings of the local context. I see that becoming more common into the future. Climate forecast I see as a very different subject to that of a rainfall forecast and I generally get them from different sources.
Do you provide climate commentary, advice or point your clients to sources of climate information?
A bit of both. Relaying the message or key points from forecast like AgEcon's or the Nutrien fellow Eric Snodgrass is pretty common. Advice is generally around risk management and the interface with crop choice or in-field management strategies in a proactive context.
Walgett 2019, It was hard to believe that from this point the land could spring back to productivity
Many farmers in the Walgett region started 2020 winter with a full profile,
La nina didn’t really kick in until aFter harvest
How does they way your clients consider the climate vary?
Some try to understand the science around forecasting down to the minute detail, others simply look at climate, mother nature, rainfall etc and use the simple analogies that we often hear such as "you either get enough or not” with reference to rainfall, "mother natures been kind" and "we have seen this all before”. The latter is more observatory rather than predictive. That said, I feel most farmers and agronomists look at what seems to be a dozen or so forecast models each morning before breakfast!
IF 2020 winter started with a full profile, 2021 is overflowing!
Did many of your clients plan for the La Nina?
We have a couple of sayings in the west that go along the lines of “work on what you have not what you think you’re going to get” with reference to soil water and, “ if you’re forced to look up then usually you’re in for a doing over” (typically said with a bit more slang!)
That said we did consider the planned wetter summer with the use of residual herbicide products in fallow etc with many clients. Given that, we were coming from drought in 2019, very little country was fallowed through winter 2020 given the timely planting opportunity that presented in April/May 2020, so our planned summer crop area was pretty small and well short of a normal season.
Looking forward, what comments would you make on the climate considerations for the end of summer and the coming winter season?
The recent rain has topped up fallow moisture well (a bit too well in places!), the forecast looks average to slightly wetter for winter rainfall from what I can see, so our plan will be to plant what we can if the timeliness of the planting windows for the different crops presents. Our biggest risk in many paddocks is continuing wet and that may result in some planting intentions being held over to a later winter crop opportunity or summer crop. If we are forced to fallow through to a summer crop then we would have a good close look at what the summer outlook for rain and temps are prior to making a decision around summer crop choice and planting time.
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