Friday 20th of September 6.48a.m. Clear and gusty. Moderate 22.2 / 27.8kph W, Hg 40%, 14.5C / 58.1F top of 23C / 73F. Marine wind warning. Sunny.
Moon is 95.3%
Farmers report major crop losses after damaging frost hits SA
12 hours ago
Between the lack of rain and a severe frost event this week, South Australian farmers are feeling the pinch from the weather.
Some farmers said they were not bothering to reap what they had sown, as their crops were in such a state that the cost of harvesting outweighed any possible return.
Jamie Evans, a farmer from the Mallee, grows cereal crops and runs livestock, and said he was not holding his breath for things to turn around this season.
"The paddocks are pretty much turning brown — what was possibly coming out got frosted off the other day," he said.
"There's just no moisture to even try to reshoot or do anything."
Struggling to feed his herd, Mr Evans has had to "pull the pin" early and sell off roughly 1,500 ewes.
With approximately 1,000 remaining, Mr Evans is still trying to work out if he can feed them.
"We don't have a lot of hay stocks left after the dry summer we had," he said.
"It just doesn't look like there's anything around to buy [either]."
Monash grape grower Michael Spivahparis said conditions were the worst he had seen in 46 harvests.
"Everywhere you look, you know, [there's] between 80 and 100 per cent damage right through the whole area," he said.
"It's the worst I've ever experienced in expense to income ratio."
Combined with low grain prices Mr Lush said it was "the perfect storm" where "everything's lined up to diminish our income for the year".
However, improvements in technology, technique and grain resilience mean things are not as bleak as they once might have been.
"The last year we had like this was in 1967 when I first came here and I sold one truckload of grain for the year. We'll do way better than that now," he said.
"We're actually a lot better at doing this than we used to be, which is why we've still got a chance of breaking even this year, whereas in the past, we'd have been just devastated right off.
"We'll live to fight another day."
