Sorghum planted in late August starting to show growth in the Moree region. Photo: Ben Boughton
SORGHUM planting has started early on southern Queensland’s Darling Downs and in northern New South Wales as growers take advantage of ideal soil moisture and warmer-than-usual temperatures.
Several areas west and south of Dalby have made significant progress following 40-50mm of mid-August rain in a usually dry month.
AgForce grains president and Warra grower Brendan Taylor said it was rare to have much sorghum planted so early in the season, and that he has finished planting all his intended sorghum area.
“This hasn’t happened in September for a long time, let alone August,” Mr Taylor said.
“Most of the sorghum in my part of the world is in and some of it would be already out of the ground.”
“Usually when we try and sow as early as we can, late August if it is wet enough, it’s usually too cold and we don’t have the soil temperatures to get good germination.
“If it’s warm enough, it’s usually not wet enough.
“This time we have had both line up; we’ve had warm temperatures and moisture, which doesn’t happen very often.”
Nutrien Dalby senior agronomist Ross Pomeroy said the area of early plantings would decrease east of Dalby and in the suthern Downs.
“Where we get into the central and southern Downs, there is substantially less planting because it’s not wet enough,” Mr Pomeroy said.
He said the week of temperatures about 5-6 degrees above average has boosted the crops’ early development.
“Most of the sorghum was out in seven days, which is not what I expected.
“I still expected it to be 10-15 days but because of those warmer conditions, it bolted out of the ground.”
Parts of NSW progress
Also taking advantage of the August rainfall are northern NSW growers.
AMPS Moree agronomist Tony Lockrey said there was “lots of sorghum go in over the last 10 days, mainly north and west of Moree”.
He said, like the Darling Downs, planting had begun weeks earlier than in a traditional season.
“We planted in August once before when the conditions were right,” Mr Lockrey said.
Mr Lockrey said he expected area to be “down a bit from last season”.
In the Liverpool Plains, growers are waiting for conditions to improve before opting to start planting.
Hunt Ag Solutions principal Jim Hunt said small patches between Narrabri and Boggabri may have been planted.
“We’re probably not going to start for a couple of weeks,” Mr Hunt said.
“For the Liverpool Plains, we’re a bit cold and we need a sowing rain before getting started.”
He said this start date would be more in line with the region’s “best window”, commencing late September to early October.
Mr Hunt said he anticipates growers to plant a “traditional” area to sorghum this season.
He said cotton was also an attractive option for growers this season.
“We have cotton destined to go in.
“It will certainly be a contest between cotton and sorghum.”
Area to increase: ABARES
ABARES September Crop Report released last week forecast the area planted to sorghum to increase by 5 percent to 622,000ha in 2024-25.
Production is also expected to rise by 9pc to 2.4 million tonnes (Mt).
In its report, ABARES points to “higher expected margins for sorghum relative to cotton” as the driver of increased production.
“High levels of stored soil moisture and the favourable climatic outlook is expected to boost grower confidence and planting intentions, leading to an increase in the area allocated to sorghum,” the report said.
Queensland and NSW both look set to increase production on 2023-24 levels.
Sorghum production is expected to increase 10pc to 1.7Mt in Queensland from 440,000ha.
NSW is forecast to produce 750,000t, an increase of 6pc on last season and 45pc above the 10-year average to 2023-24.
The report indicated that a “favourable spring rainfall outlook” would likely boost average yields across both states.
“The increased chance of above average spring rainfall and above average soil moisture levels are expected to support the production potential of sorghum crops,” the report said.
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