Return of the match

However, reasons for burning stubbles vary, with trash clearance a major factor in both the Western District and the north-east, and disease management a suspected cause in the Wimmera.

Southern Farming Systems (SFS) new chief executive Jon Midwood said there had been significantly more burning throughout the Western District this autumn.

“It’s mainly been an issue of getting through the trash, combined with the fact that many people have lower levels of livestock now and they couldn’t graze the paddocks.”

Mr Midwood said the major issue was with the heavy stubble loads, which caused issues at seeding time.

“Although yields were down, due to the November heat, we are dealing with stubbles that had 6-8 tonnes to the hectare of grain yield potential, and are very thick.

“With the summer rain, the roots have rotted, which has meant it is very easy for stubble to become lodged in seeding equipment.”

In the north-east, Riverine Plains chairman Andrew Russell said there had been similar issues.

“Everyone has been having problems, its mainly due to the heavy stubble loads, which are lodging in the bar," he said.

Mr Russell, who farms at Rutherglen, said with drying conditions, trash flow was getting easier, but once dew settled in the evening, there were problems getting through paddocks once again.

“There’s certainly been a lot more burning this year just so people could get their crop in on time.”

In the Wimmera, soil health project officer and Wimmera Conservation Farming Association (WCFA) co-ordinator Greg Antonoff said a long running stubble management project had noted a rise in the level of paddocks burnt.

“We have been running the Wimmera cropland management survey since 1996, which basically looks at stubble management," Mr Antonoff said.

“This year, over the 500 paddocks surveyed through the true Wimmera plains country north of Horsham, 7.8pc of paddocks either have been or will be burnt, compared to 0.8pc last year.

“It has to be taken in context, it is still a lot less than our last big burning year which was back in 2004, when 18pc of paddocks were burnt.”

Mr Antonoff said he suspected the reasons for burning were different than in the higher rainfall Western District or north-east.

“My theory is that it is primarily a disease management issue.

“With the summer rain, there was the potential for a strong green bridge to get through, which could cause issues in the spring.

“Some farmers had suggested they just couldn’t justify the cost of three chemical controls of summer weeds, and they have burnt to control that green bridge.

“Burning has been a low cost way to control potential disease pressures.”

In spite of the rise in burning levels, widely decried as an outdated management practice, it is unlikely that there will be a permanent increase in paddock burns.

“Previously, we’ve had a run of dry seasons and it has been quite possible to inter-row sow through standing stubble in the autumn, whereas this year it hasn’t been possible,” Mr Midwood said.

“It may be in wetter years, people who prefer to keep stubble standing will have to compromise and mulch paddocks, we have heard those that have mulched have got through trash to sow very easily.

“However, for those who didn’t mulch, there were a lot of people who were adamant they would never burn again, and had all the right intentions, but the reality was there were no other options.

“Obviously, people will look at other stubble management tools, but I think that burning will remain a tool for farmers in the Western District, with heavy stubble loads.

“It has been a while since the stubble load has meant it is hard to get through, but farmers through the high rainfall zone have different scenarios to those in the Wimmera.

“Providing burning only takes place less than every four or five years, you aren’t likely to lose too much in the way of soil carbon, especially with larger crops putting more carbon back in through higher rainfall areas.”

Mr Russell said farmers in the north-east remained committed to basic no-till principles, but realised that in practice some compromises, including burning, had to be made.

“As a group, Riverine Plains are looking to run discussion groups just to try and sort out what to do with trash flow following a wet summer.

“Burning certainly isn’t what we want to do, but we haven’t had a wet summer like this one for a long time, and when people realised there was a problem, burning was the only option left.

“In the future, perhaps when we see a wet summer, we will have to be on the front foot and look at mulching, or coming in and cutting the straw lower with the header.

“However, burning isn’t great, but if you can limit it to once every five or six years, it has its role and can be good in limiting fungal disease.”

Mr Antonoff said the trend in the Wimmera was still towards retaining stubble.

“Even this year, when stubble retention was down on last year, it is still above the average since the survey began.

“This year, 66.8pc of paddocks had stubble retained, below last year’s 83pc, but above the long-term figure of 62pc.

“We still think that ground cover is king, and obviously we’d like to see 100pc of paddocks with ground cover 100pc of the time, but we realise that in practice there are occasions when burning is an option, even though we shudder to think about it.”