Rainfall of 5-25mm was recorded in the Mallee yesterday and there is a promise of more next week. The rain should boost cropping hopes as in some areas, where little rain has fallen since the autumn.
Dale Grey, seasonal risk agronomist with Agriculture Victoria, Bendigo, said this week's rains should put crops on track for at least an average yield for 2017.
"While some areas in South Australia and the north-western Mallee were struggling with very little rain since May, earlier sown crops will be able to take advantage of this latest rain," Grey said.
"In many cases, Mallee crops were sitting on about 80 per cent full soil moisture profiles following an excellent early start to the season."
The annual MMFD were held on Wednesday and Thursday at Speed in Victoria where there were several new product launches, including the Croplands Pegasus 7000 Plus trailed sprayer, Gallagher TW-3 weigh scale with life data and trait recording ability and a fire suppression system for Case IH harvesters.
Case IH, through its O'Connors dealership business, also announced it will be supplying the Integrated Harrington Seed Destructor, or iHSD, into its Case IH harvester sales for the upcoming harvest.
Other machinery shown at the MMFD included a new 8500 litre capacity Sonic trailed boompsray, Seedmaster air cart and seeding bar and a Goldacres self-propelled sprayer set up on Soucy tracks.
More details on the machinery will be available in the September edition of the Farming Ahead magazine.
