2023 was a cracking drought in many parts, thanks captain obvious!   Figure 1. Total rainfall since the end of 2022 t (Red Line) at Carnamah, compared to previous 18-month periods (Blue Lines). It’s not always fun to set new records! Source: Climateapp.net....

On the 28th of July, 2007, when I was working with the Ag Dept, I set out with Steve Davies and others to put in three mouldboard plough plus lime trials on some sandy soil at Mingenew. I can remember the date because it was a drought year and we needed to wait until...

First and foremost, let’s recognise the human element here. While it is easy to outline some strategies to best manage late breaks from a keyboard and office, I fully recognise the debilitating process of seeing high workloads, compromised lamb survival, expensive...

Let’s say that you’re a grower, and you have just spent 3 months of your season caring for and growing a first-grade line of cabbages. Once picked and packed, you approach a buyer and negotiate a price and 30-day terms. Produce is sent off to the buyer with an...

I’ve heard it from a number of industry people over the years, but the general consensus is that a farm manager will have 20-25 years to hone their craft before retiring or handing the reins over to the next generation. So, unless you’re in horticulture, those 20-25...

Following on from Cameron Weeks's article in the March edition of Landline, I thought it may be useful to provide some insight into what happened in the great southern agricultural region. Following a mixed start to the season, depending on where farmers were located...

For the past 20 years a common saying in the commodity space has been “If you build, grow or mine it, China will buy it”. This is still somewhat true (barley and other previous tariffs aside) as the world’s largest importer of almost everything remains a colossus but...

We’re at an exciting stage in WA for all things carbon. We’ve been fielding more enquiries than ever from farmers showing interest in getting involved. This could range all the way from getting a better understanding of emissions produced across their enterprise to...

  Across my 20 years with Planfarm, this is my 5th contribution to Landline. Why you may ask? Well, the first article I wrote in my first 3 months with the business led to being threatened with a lawsuit. The second had a major bank demand I put a half-page...

Selecting a barley variety can be confusing. Should I select a lower yielding variety that’s malt accredited, and assume the malt premium makes up the yield difference? Or should I forget about chasing malt completely and go for a variety that has the highest possible...

In the dynamic landscape of our horticulture industry, the concept of resilience has become synonymous with sustainability, a key pillar for ensuring the robustness of our food supply chains. Hon Jackie Jarvis, speaking at EvokeAg this month, highlighted the shift in...

I attended the Nuffield Scholarship Luncheon on Friday 16th February for the first time. I represented Planfarm as a major sponsor of the event. What a fascinating and rewarding network. Not being from a farming background but having parents who grew up in the Mallee...