A new high-tech government system for assessing seasonal conditions suggests Young and the Riverina could be on the cusp of a drought.
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This week the NSW Government unveiled new technology that it says will give faster and more detailed seasonal conditions information, enabling farmers to make better-informed decisions.
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the new Enhanced Drought Indicator System (EDIS) drew on the latest remote sensing, satellite and climate data to provide a more detailed assessment of seasonal conditions.
A map based on the EDIS data has described the Riverina as being “drought onset”, just one level down from the most serious “drought” level, or “drought watch”, the next level down.
The EDIS was launched just days ahead of predicted rain for Young, which may improve the outlook for farmers.
At this time of the year, farmers have to decide whether to start sowing winter crops in anticipation of rain, or hold off to see if there are adequate falls likely before they commit to the cost of planting crops.
Landmark agronomist Mark Golder said dry conditions over the last two months meant some farmers had switched to hand-feeding livestock as growth their grazing crops had slowed.
While many farmers will be looking for rain over the next four to six weeks to help prepare the soil for sowing.
“Some farmers will start dry sowing,” Mr Golder said.
When it comes to dry sowing, paddock and crop selection is important and there are additional challenges for managing weeds.
“But if you’ve got the right paddock and the right crop, a good yield is still achievable,” he said.
Nigel Smedley from the Bureau of Meteorology at Wagga said autumn in the southern part of NSW was expected to be warmer and drier than average.
According to Mr Blair, the goal of the EDIS was to provide farmers with as much information as possible.
“Making the right decision early, based on solid information, is key to minimising the potentially crippling effects of drought,” he said.
“This technology allows farmers to have more power and more certainty when making those on farm decisions.
“EDIS will become even more detailed next month with the release of a new app to allow farmers to record and share information about conditions on individual properties,” he said.
