OPINION: Bounty brought by the rain

East of Geraldton in the locality of Tenindewa, the Critch family farm a big area of grain crops. On a trip to look at the wildflowers we called in and asked Daniel Critch how the season had been for them. “We had some rain early and then it petered out, it looked very dry for a while” he said. “But the arrival of good rains in the last few weeks has made the crops look much better. We could use another rain and that would do it for us.” Out on the broadacre farms they have heavy-duty machinery, and the Critches’ outfit is no exception. Huge tractors and wide seeding equipment are used to cover the big areas. Modern methods of farming using minimum tilling and computer-operated machinery have made today’s farmers very efficient. All they need is rain at the right time. As far as the eye can see from Geraldton out to Pindar, the paddocks are sown to grain crops. Wheat, lupins and the brightest yellow canola crops I have seen in years cover almost every square metre of arable land. We hope they all receive that final rain Daniel spoke of. “Canola has stood up OK with wheat out here,” Tony Critch told us. “Even when we had dry seasons it came through all right. It is looking good. Back in the 60s and 70s when we farmed at Mingenew, canola wasn’t heard of then. We grew wheat and had started to grow white lupins. There are plenty of both of these crops still grown widely here in the Wheatbelt. Our methods of farming then were imported from England and Europe and used ploughs and tyned implements to control weeds, and combine seeders to sow the grain. Today there are people around the world who are looking at re-generative farming, reverting to ancient methods to control or affect soil hydrology. That is about keeping the rain that falls where it falls as much as possible. * To share your Geraldton garden with readers, call Stan Maley on 0428 230 029.