General News
23 January, 2024
'Vertical flood' strips tomato yield by half, corn should recover
CHRISTMAS floods are expected to cut tomato crop yields in the Boort district by 50 per cent. Sawers Farm’s Tony Sawers described the damaging deluge as a vertical flood. “More than six inches of rain in six hours created an instant flood across...
CHRISTMAS floods are expected to cut tomato crop yields in the Boort district by 50 per cent.
Sawers Farm’s Tony Sawers described the damaging deluge as a vertical flood.
“More than six inches of rain in six hours created an instant flood across our crops,” he said.
“And we’ve had another four inches or 100mm since that big downpour that started on Christmas Eve, giving us about 80 per cent of our annual rainfall since Christmas eve.
“That’s just made things too wet for our tomato plants to grow. They need oxygen and the waterlogging has stopped that.”
Mr Sawers said the tomato crop had been tracking well before Christmas.
“The season was looking like it would deliver a good average mid-range return,” he said.
“It’s amazing how quickly things have gone from the crest of the wave to the sandbar.
“The assessment at the moment is that we have lost half of our tomato crop but it appears corn will come through okay.” Mr Sawers said the big summer wet was also affecting the soy bean crop.
“The rains over two weeks have made for a disappointing and frustrating summer.
“There’s always lots of energy and time and effort put into the crops by our staff and farmers right across the district and then oops ... that’s farming,” Mr Sawers said.
“To have summer crops waterloogged is not a formula for success.”
Corn has become a major crop in the 1100 hectares of drip irrigation on the farm where a new Australian record had been set for breaking the 20-tonnes-per-hectare yield barrier.
Mr Sawers said he expected corn would pull through from the wet spell.
And Mr Sawers said dryland crops would have a full profile moisture that would auger well for the winter season.
“Yields will be down across our summer crops but there will still be something,” Mr Sawers said.