Most residents in Victoria woke to a dampened soil this morning, after many places saw their best rain in months. Rain developed in western parts on Sunday morning and spread east as a low pressure trough and cold front crossed the state.
There were widespread falls of 5-15mm over western and central parts of Victoria to 9am this morning, with even heavier falls in the southwest and northeast. This would have come as welcome relief for farmers, with many places sitting well short of their average rainfall over the first four months of the year.
Carnarvon avocado growers have seen a production drop this year, with one grower reporting yields from his crop have been halved. A slower year was expected after a heatwave burnt ripening crops in February but strong prices have helped growers, up around 40 per cent on last year.
Wes Bassett, a biodynamic avocado grower in Carnarvon, says it's too early to tell if high prices will make up for the drop in production.
Farmers in southern NSW have had light falls of rain in the past 24 hours and say it could make all the difference to their seasonal outlook. There have been widespread showers in the Riverina, with reports of up to 20 millimetres at Wagga Wagga, and 14 millimetres at Holbrook.
Further north, at Lake Cargelligo in the central west of the state, farmer Peter McFadyen has had 11 millimetres and is hopeful of more.
Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan says some graziers in Queensland's southern inland are struggling to water their stock, despite relatively green conditions.
The region has experienced several floods in recent years but a lack of rain has put the western side of the shire in the grip of an undeclared drought. Councillor Loughnan says most farmers have feed but are running out of water.
WA's main grain handler, the CBH Group, is optimistic of achieving crop levels of between 10 and 15 million tonnes for the 2013-14 harvest.
General Manager Operations for the CBH Group, Colin Tutt, says that recent rain has made for the best start across the state for several years. "We do recognise that some areas are still a little bit dry and the rain has been a little bit patchy, but overall we're very, very pleased."
Farmers in south-east NSW say they could have some of the best grass in the state at the moment. But the absence of a solid autumn break still has them worried.
Neil Waterson, a beef farmer in the Bega Valley, says all of the markets are flat because of an oversupply of cattle across the country.
Farmers in one of the driest parts of the wheatbelt are very disappointed in the rain associated with this week's cold front.
Romolo Patroni is the Shire President of Yilgarn, he also farms at Marvel Loch in the eastern wheatbelt. "Very disappointing with the way the cold front came through." "The predictions that were being made as far as rainfall was concerned we expected to get at least somewhere between 10 and 20 millimetres but I think generally the area only received between four and six millimetres."
