EL Niño does not equal drought.
That was the key message relayed to about 90 young grain growers in the Wimmera Mallee region at five farmer discussion groups last week.
The 'Growth Adoption Production and Profit' (GAPP) meetings were part of new joint initiative by the Birchip Cropping Group (BCG) and Victoria's Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR).
"Some El Niños have led to bad droughts in the past, but the majority have not," DEDJTR agronomist Dale Grey said.
"I think a lot of people conditioned to think El Nino equals drought.
"So last week's meeting were really about doing some myth busting."
Mr Grey said last week's rain had also turned the season around in the local area.
"Sowing is all done and the crops are nearly all emerged," he said.
"Before last week, they were in desperate need of a rain, but they are guaranteed to continue on for a number of weeks now without any moisture stress."
However, the concern at the moment was stored moisture, which would require further rain to improve.
He said Wimmera Mallee growers would now turn to post-emergent weed spraying and nitrogen application.
"My main advice for growers is to proceed with cautious optimism," Mr Grey said.
"Don't commit to too many inputs early on. Due to the fact the crops have come up late, it will be a few months yet before those big fertiliser decision have to be made."
He told the group of young growers from the Southern Mallee, Manangatang, Hopetoun, Rupanyup and Horsham not to stress out.
"Take a 'steady as she goes' approach," he said.
BCG's DeAnne Ferrier said each meeting heard from local agronomists, while the key objective of the GAPP groups was to improve the profitability and productivity of farming systems in the Wimmera Mallee.
"It's quite an exciting initiative," she said.
"We've aimed these meetings at young growers, because we haven't presented this information to them before.
"There's certainly been a generational shift here.
"And we know it's very easy to focus on production when you are in the paddock, and that people often don't think strategically until they are older."
Agricultural consultant Phil O'Callaghan also spoke to each group about cost of production and yields, as well as the ideal income surpluses each farm should aim for.
He told growers that farm business should aim to spend about 12 per cent of their income on fertiliser and chemicals.
However that was tricky to achieve, and he said some people might consider sacrificing weedy or low fertility paddocks.
Linc Lehmann, who farms at Birchip, said he had benefitted from the grower meetings.
His family grow wheat, barley, canola, field peas and lentils.
"I like to go to these sorts of events, particularly to help with decision making in the season ahead," he said.
The Lehmanns were holding back on fertiliser applications at the moment, but would consider it on low risk soils later on.
He was also relieved after the rain last week.
"We had about 30 millimetres and the crops have come up really well," he said.
"I was a bit concerned before that."
Watchupga East grower Sammi Mitchell was also feeling pretty confident after recent rains in her area.
"It was very handy for us," Ms Mitchell said. "Everything is looking nice and green now."
Sowing has finished on her farm, north of Birchip, where they put in wheat, barley, vetch and field peas.
"We chickened out on canola…mainly because of the rotations. It was going to go in on the heavier ground," she said.
"We didn't want to risk it. Last year, we only got 0.2 tonnes per hectare and we weren't happy."
Ms Mitchell was among 90 young growers from the Wimmera Mallee region that attended last week's series of GAPP meetings.
The main message she took back to her farm was about cutting costs in a dry year.
"I think we might look at sacrificing inputs on paddock that have low fertility in the future," she said.
"In a dry year, it might mean we can spend that money elsewhere."
However she said it was a big risk to take.
"Half of our land is leased, so we really want to make a return," she said.
"But it's a good option to have."
She will now turn her attention to weed management and spraying.
"We haven't put on fertiliser at the moment; that's something we will assess down the track depending on the season."
