SEED
Forward planning with Ruralco lowers spring stress If Covid was not enough of a challenge to the primary sector for the past two years, a major conflict in Europe has only made the job of farming 18,000km away all that much harder again after a particularly tough harvest here. WORDS BY RICHARD RENNIE, IMAGES BY ANNIE STUDHOLME
This winter Ruralco is ramping up efforts to help make members’ farming year be a simpler, lower stress affair, with the co-operative’s pool of experienced staff on hand to help members
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R E AL FARM E R
plan their new farming year ahead of the inevitable challenges that may arise. A key part of Ruralco’s winter planning sessions will include discussing sowing options for the new season, determining crops, chemicals, fertilisers, and timing to keep the process as smooth as possible. John Scott, Ruralco’s Seed Sales Manager says this year’s harvest was one that has tried the best of operators, and he is keen to work as closely as possible with contractors and farmers to see next season be successful. “We have experienced what was one of the most difficult harvests in memory, with
conditions really working against us from the start, and we never really caught any of the warm nor-west weather you would expect, at any stage of the harvest this year,” says John. The damp, cool conditions laid down an ideal environment for disease and rust and depending upon whether treatments were used or not, combined with poor harvesting conditions there has been significant variance in crop yields reported throughout the region. “At this stage we don’t know whether there is any significant impact upon seed availability, but there are delays throughout the entire
