“After a very unfavourable start to the winter season, particularly in South Australia and parts of southern NSW, we’ve had some fairly good rainfall \u2026 which has really helped that area start to drive on,” ABARES executive director Jared Greenville said.<\/p>\n
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Canola crops in parts of central-west NSW are in bloom after plenty of winter rain.\u00a0 (ABC Central West: Emily Middleton)<\/p>\n
ABARES is forecasting the value of Australian agriculture will be $94.7 billion in 2025-26, due to record lamb prices and beef exports.<\/p>\n
The figure is close to the National Farmers’ Federation’s (NFF) goal of growing the industry’s value to $100 billion by 2030.<\/p>\n
“It’s great news to see agriculture doing so well in the challenges of drought in the south-east, but then also acknowledging that there’s absolutely been huge challenges with the amount of water in the north,” NFF president David Jochinke said.<\/p>\n
Spring looks promising<\/p>\n
Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Felicity Gamble said while some parts of NSW had recorded their wettest year to date on record, the southern region had been mostly dry.<\/p>\n
However, looking ahead, she said the outlook for spring was promising.<\/p>\n
The BOM has forecast a more than 80 per cent chance of above-average rainfall for much of eastern Australia over the next few months.<\/p>\n
“It’s really good news for the southern parts of NSW, and extending into western Victoria [and] parts of south-east South Australia,” she said.<\/p>\n
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Rainfall is likely to be above average for most of the eastern half of Australia. (Supplied: BOM)<\/p>\n
According to Scone agent and cattle farmer Francis Buffier, his catchment could not be sitting any better.<\/p>\n
“The feed is starting to grow, the dams are full, the creeks are running, and the market is good,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of demand for cattle<\/a>, there’s decent numbers in the market but not huge at the moment \u2014 the outlook is good.”<\/p>\n Over the year to date, Scone has had 690 millimetres of rain, about 190mm above the year-to-year average, according to Mr Buffier.<\/p>\n Taree dairy farmer Rod Lattimore inspects what used to be pasture.\u00a0 (ABC Mid-North Coast: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n Flooded areas struggling to recover<\/p>\n In parts of northern NSW, some farmers are still scrambling to keep their heads above water<\/a>.<\/p>\n Third-generation dairy farmer Rodney Lattimore, from Taree, has been hit by two major floods in four years.<\/p>\n He is hoping for less rain in the coming months.<\/p>\n Rod Lattimore says there was upwards of 10 years of work ahead of him to get his farm back to a pre-flood state.\u00a0 (ABC Mid-North Coast: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n “This spring will be an extreme amount of work to try and recover our pastures and get them producing again,” Mr Lattimore said.<\/p>\n “Then we can minimise the amount of feed we’ve had to feed the cows, which has been costly and very time-consuming.”<\/p>\n Further north in Queensland’s Bundaberg region, it is a similar story.<\/p>\n Michael Meiers is the co-owner and operator of a boutique strawberry farm in Meadowvale.<\/p>\n He said the pressure to get high quantities and high-quality products on the market had been a challenge, and regular rain once a week had become “frustrating and annoying”.<\/p>\n Rod Lattimore has had to feed his cattle because pastures have been unable to grow. (ABC Mid-North Coast: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n “It doesn’t even need to be a lot [of rain], just even a little bit over a long period of time is enough to do damage,” Mr Meiers said.<\/p>\n “If the strawberries sit on wet plastic, it will just discolour on the bottom and slowly but surely the rain damage comes in.<\/p>\n “Our saving grace has been [that] just about for every rain that has come through, we’ve had a strong south-westerly come and clear skies \u2014 so it’s kept us out of the mud a little bit.”<\/p>\n Michael Meiers runs a boutique strawberry farm in Meadowvale, Queensland.\u00a0 (ABC Wide Bay: Tayla Larsen)<\/p>\n Southern drought<\/p>\n Almost half of NSW is still classified as “in drought” or “drought affected” on the NSW Department of Primary Industries drought indicator map<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the Riverina, producers are counting on spring rainfall to grow pastures and ensure crop yields, while in some parts of the far-west, rain totals are 100mm below average.<\/p>\n This is affecting water supplies and limiting the growth of pastures, something that has producers worried ahead of the warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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