That’s according to Young district agronomist Paul Parker. 

As a result, crops are thriving and the season is off to a bumper start.

“It’s been beautiful, soaking, gentle rain,” he said.

“Soil is nice and warm, and that’s why we’re getting the excellent growth.”

After a long, dry summer it’s the start of the season farmers needed. 

“The last five months of last year were well below average and now we’ve had this fantastic March rain which has been pretty well about two and a half times the average,” Paul said.

“This is one of the best autumn breaks that I’ve had in nearly 40 years that I can recall.”

Although above average figures, March’s rainfall was not as high as the past four years.

However Paul said the high figures from previous years were mostly due to heavy storms which results in most of the water running off.

This year’s rain came at a steadier rate, allowing the soil to absorb the water effectively. 

As a result, Paul said, “everything’s taking off”.

Historically, the west of the shire misses out on the bulk of the rainfall, but this month has seen a divergence from the trend.

Graham Noakes has a property at Bribbaree and received 54mm in the downpour on March 27, compared to Young Airport which received 41.2mm.

“It’s a good start, we need some follow-up rain but it’s a great start,” he said.

“Wheat is coming up in a few days and they’re coming out of the ground really fast so with some follow-up rain we’ll get some sheep feed.”

He said the next month will be critical.

“We’ve got to have follow-up rain,” he said

“Hopefully we’ll get a bit more rain over the next few days, it’ll be great.”

The fertile conditions aren’t without challenges however.

Paul Parker said farmers will now have to make decisions regarding weed control.

“Unfortunately with the growth means a big germination in weeds,” he said.

“There is a lot of varying different types of weeds around.”

While he said farmers are optimistic about the season to come, they still need more solid rainfall.

“We’ll still need more rain to build the moisture up so that when we get into spring and it starts to dry out the roots have still got plenty of moisture,  that’s going to be critical for us this year incase we get a dry spring,” he said.

“We also need rain to fill up dams. 

“We’re going to need another 100 to 200 mills in some heavier falls to get run off.”