A COMBINATION of wet and windy conditions has meant Western Aerial have faced a ‘fair battle’ in taking to the skies to complete its spraying and spreading programs for growers.
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Western Aerial’s chief pilot Todd Miller said there had been significant inquiry from farmers looking for alternative methods to spread urea and apply fungicides, given many paddocks were too wet to access.
“I’ve been fielding calls from all over the state about the availability of planes,” he said.
However, the same wet conditions that have thwarted tractors across the Wimmera, North Central and Western District also have led to less than ideal flying weather.
“We have plenty of work to get through, but we would have been lucky if we’ve had five working days in three weeks, if it's not the wet, it’s the wind,” Mr Miller said.
Mr Miller said the focus was on looking after long standing clients, before attempting to meet the increased seasonal demand, but said there would be people who would miss out before the spreading and spraying window closed.
“We’ll be looking after the guys that are loyal to us, and the shortage of planes and pilots means there is a backlog and we will not get to all those who have made inquiries before it is too late.”
Mr Miller said aerial infrastructure had been run down over the series of dry years in the past decade.
“You’ve got air strips that are now being cropped, while there are less planes and pilots, due to lower demand – I am not going to have 10 planes sitting around idle every year.”
Mr Miller said his planes were exclusively working on spreading urea at the moment, rather than applying fungicide.
