| 99 Surviving and thriving through a tough harvest Rosa Watson Canterbury crop farmers Hamish and Emma Irwin have navigated their way through a challenging harvest with overcast and damp conditions affecting the region over summer. The third-generation farmers, who have three teenage children, own 245 hectares northwest of Ashburton. A mixed cropping and store lamb fattening business, the farm is 90 per cent irrigated, supplemented by leasing 20 hectares to grow potatoes. They raise 2500 to 3500 store lambs on the property during winter, which was an intensive part of the operation’s calendar, Hamish told Rural South. Summer had not been kind with cloudy and cold easterly conditions along with high humidity - not the north-west winds and hot sunny days normally associated with the plains, he said. “We had probably the worst in living memory for harvest conditions - not hugely wet, pretty hot and dry leading up to Christmas, then relatively cold and cloudy for the remainder of summer. “The milling quality’s okay but the yields were back. Malting barley is a bit mixed with tests weights down on some fields and growth splits on the later crops, making it unsuitable for malting.” However, it wasn’t the end of the world as barley for feed is generally easy to sell. Process peas were very poor due as the cold damp conditions around New Year when the peas were flowering. Nevertheless, the show must go on, Hamish said. “Having said that we got harvest done with plenty of patience, relatively few breakdowns and family help. “At the moment, when the sun comes out, I’m pretty happy.” They harvested 12t/ha of the Discovery wheat crop, which was back on yield but reasonable considering the conditions, he said. Overall, the earlier sown wheat, in April and May, was less affected as much by the weather as later the later sown cereals. “We had to dry a bit of the first cereal paddocks harvested just to keep the wheels turning. I would prefer not to dry too much grain as it is quiet time consuming and costly to run fans and LPG heaters.” In total there was 50-55ha in wheat last season, but this will probably back a few hectares again for the coming year, he said. Crop management is now focussed on feeding green feed crops for lambs and planting milling wheats after the green feed crop has been grazed, rather than growing feed wheat varieties which yield best when planted early April. This season they have slightly more area planted in perennial ryegrass for seed in four different varieties. Other crops harvested this year included spinach for seed, curley kale for seed, and oats for seed and feed. ON FARM » Hamish Irwin Summer had not been kind with cloudy and cold easterly conditions along with high humidity. Hamish was happy with how the spring oats yielded given the conditions, and pleased he didn’t grow a white clover seed crop that suffered badly. Perennial ryegrass seed yields were back this year, with higher-than-average seed cleaning losses, again attributed to the non-summery conditions. He was waiting to hear back from the flour mills – Champion Flour Milling and Mauri George Weston Foods in Christchurch and Farmers Mill in Timaru – as to next harvests pricing, variety requirements and tonnage allocation. “It just depends on the baker’s needs ... and the amount of wheat they have in storage carried over from the 2023 and 2024 harvest. “A lot of last season’s wheat was stored by the mills in Christchurch, because we delivered hundreds of tonnes, along with many other growers the week prior to Christmas 2024.” With challenging market conditions resulting from low commodity prices of the back of the COVID, it was getting harder for family farms to be sustainable. He said he is revisiting land-use consents on the property to allow for dairy grazing, which is something that could help the local arable industry. Other crop options maybe become an Proud to support Hamish Irwin Better Fertiliser, Better Farming Its a privilege to see our customers excel Don Hart (CEO) 027 432 0187 don@topsoils.co.nz Sally Sim 027 321 3030 sally@topsoils.co.nz James McCann 027 381 8856 james@topsoils.co.nz option, but other factors needed to be considered if a certified seed crop is grown such as isolation from other neighbours’ paddocks. They would look at options over the next 10 years, whether that means store lambs take a back seat and exploring dairy grazing options and change the cropping mix. “It is all up in the air at the moment, it’s difficult to plan too far out. “It’s pleasing to see the dairy industry receiving a good payout which supports the feed grain industry and the schedules for red meat really giving a much-needed lift to the sheep and beef farmers.”
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