I’m sitting here thinking, how is it already October? The year has absolutely flown, and it’s unbelievable to think that harvest is now right at our doorstep.
Firstly, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who attended BCG’s Main Field Day. The day is always a cornerstone event on the BCG calendar, and this year it was particularly rewarding to see such a large crowd come together.
While the windy conditions meant it certainly wasn’t a day for spraying, it didn’t stop the great conversations. Standing alongside fellow farmers, advisors and industry is a good reminder of the value of getting together and sharing what we’re seeing in the paddock. There’s something special about seeing hundreds of farmers with a shared interest in learning, improving and supporting the future of agriculture. Conversations from events like Main Field Day help shape the decisions we’ll all be making in the months ahead.
I’d like to congratulate the BCG team again on their efforts in bringing the day together. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make an event like this happen and our BCG team are world class when it comes to pulling together an amazing event in the middle of a paddock with barely any phone service! A massive thank you to each team members who helped make the day work so well.
Since then, attention has shifted quickly towards the pointy end of the season. Many growers, myself included, are cutting hay. Farmers are preparing their machines, assessing storage, and checking in with their chaser bin and truck drivers ahead of the busy season.
Crops have heads, canola is finishing flowering, and with that comes both excitement and risk. We know how much rides on these next few weeks; the timing of rainfall, the severity of frost events and the weather conditions leading into harvest.
There’s certainly a tease of a great harvest out there, but that familiar balance between opportunity and uncertainty is something we know all too well in agriculture. We put everything we can into planning, preparing and growing a crop, but ultimately, we have to hold steady and deal with whatever the season throws at us.
On my farm, there’s a little bit of moisture stress starting to show around the trees, particularly in wheat. Hopefully we can still get one good rain (or more, if it’s not too much to ask for) to really bring the crop home.
The annual Chair’s Breakfast is coming up on October 8 at 8am, and I look forward to seeing anyone who can make it. It will be a good opportunity to catch up with a few of you before harvest really gets underway. The Chair’s Breakfast is always a chance to hear from other farmers, but also to step outside our day to day and hear from someone working at the forefront of science and research. This year, it will be interesting to hear from Dr Andrew Watkins about the future of our climate and what that might mean for the way we farm.
I look forward to seeing how harvest unfolds, and to the conversations and challenges still to come as we close out another year of farming together. Stay safe and enjoy a great finish to the year.
