Vol. 17 No. 8
FREE PUBLICATION
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
James Henwood from Horsham’s Oven Door bakery and Horsham Agricultural Society secretary Andrea Cross get in some practice for the Oven Door’s attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the largest vanilla slice. Mr Henwood plans to create a vanilla slice weighing more than 600 kilograms during the 136th annual Horsham Show on October 1. The world-record attempt will highlight many activities at the show including a fashion parade, vanilla slice-eating contest and other events. Story, see page 5. Picture: MICK SHANNON
Slice of heaven!
Critical period for crops A
By DEAN LAWSON
Victorian farmers leader has pencilled in a three-point wish list as he and fellow Wimmera broadacre farmers watch developing crops emerge from a cold winter and head into spring. Victorian Farmers Federation vicepresident David Jochinke, of Murra Warra, north of Horsham, said an end to severe frosts by next week, a couple of ‘decent rains’ and a cool to mild spring would allow crops across the region to reach their potential.
“If we can get those three things a lot of crops in our neck of the woods will be in good shape,” he said. Mr Jochinke said unlike parts of the Mallee, where heavy and continuous frosts had caused widespread crop losses and damage, much of the Wimmera cropping country was faring well. “Across the Wimmera we haven’t been in the crop-development window where frosts have been able to hurt us too much. “From what I’ve heard, compared with the Mallee, many Wimmera
crops haven’t really been touched,” he said. “Frosts traditionally do damage when the plant has reached reproduction stage and is developing flowers. “Flowers are delicate and vulnerable. Destroy the plant’s flowers and the plant can’t reproduce and create grain.” Mr Jochinke said crops across a broad area of the Mallee grain-growing area had been well advanced due to a warm autumn and had been caught by the icy snap of weather. “They have been considerably more
advanced than many Wimmera crops. Many Wimmera farmers have been fortunate because their crops had yet to reach that vulnerable stage,” he said. “But we certainly don’t want to see any more severe frosts from now on. We’ll probably see canola, which has been hit hard by frost in the past, hit its straps in the next week or two and cereals will start to flower.” Mr Jochinke said from district to district, crops were looking from ‘fantastic to quite good’ but a lack of sub-soil moisture remained a concern.
“We really do need a good drop of rain, in fact a couple, and we don’t want to see too many hot days in spring that dry out the soil and plants and put everything under stress,” he said. Mr Jochinke said southern Wimmera and Western District crops were further behind in development again and ‘anything above water’ was looking good. Weather forecasters are predicting cloudy to sunny and warm days and cool overnight temperatures during the next week.
IN THIS ISSUE • White Ribbon Day ambassadors • Horsham District Football finals 12-page lift-out Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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