Confidence appears high among grain farmers this year as they target a mid April start to the cropping season.
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Conditions seem ideal for sowing to start in mid-April with the only negatives being the high cost of chemicals and fuels caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russell Hocking grows wheat, barley, oats, canola and vetch on 17,000 hectares across Prairie and the Mallee and said conditions weren't too bad for the start of the season.
"if we get 15 to 20mm of rain in the next couple of weeks it will be ideal," he said.
"We've got a bit of stored moisture here. Moisture-wise it's better now that it has been in a lot of other years, especially if we get that 20mm it will be good. The first week of April will do nicely."
Regarding the weather, Mr Hocking said he didn't think the start to 2022 had been any drier than previous years.
"In our patch it has been a lot drier than this," he said.
Lindsay Sargeant, of Loddon Campaspe Fertilisers, said there was plenty of subsoil moisture.
He said fertilising was being carried out at the moment with farmers prepping for sowing.
"We were buying and selling fertiliser back in November which we've never done before, it's normally the last week in December," Mr Sargeant said.
"We've sold 90 per cent of our fertiliser for the year.
"Farmers will now wait for some rain and then start sowing around ANZAC Day.
"We get a reasonably good autumn break and a bit of sunshine, the stuff will shoot out of the ground."
The start of the cropping season this year has come with concerns about seed shortage and fuel shortages, as well as the high price of petrol due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"I've never seen input costs so high," Mr Sargeant said.
"Chemical is exorbitant, fuel is exorbitant. Prices have gone through the roof.
"Grain prices need to stay up accordingly to cover inputs.
"If it was $80 a hectare to sow a crop last year it will be a lot more this year."
He said farmers needed to be pro-active and not reactive when it comes to inputs like fuel.
"Good farmers who plan well will have supplies," Mr Sargeant said.
"it's those who make the last minute decisions who get caught out.
"They need to fill everything up because a) the price may go up and b) you may not be able to get it.
Lancefield farmer Matt Cleave said conditions were perfect in his part of the world.
"We've had our autumn break," he said.
"it's quite green around here. We had 60mm of rain two or three weeks ago and it's looking really good here."
Nutrien Ag Solutions Elmore agronomist Greg Toomey said many areas of the state had good subsoil moisture storage.
"I haven't seen any seasonal forecasts that say anything other than average conditions or better (than average)," he said.
"The high prices for grain will go some way to help offset the elevated cost of fertilisers and other inputs.
"I would say it could cost up to more than $400 a hectare to grow a crop this year compared to last year."
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