275 mm falls during the growing season between April and October. As a result of meeting with Dwayne Beck at Minot in 1994 we are now experimenting with summer crops and last year successfully grew our first 40 ha crop of grain sorghum. Prior to 1982 our farm was a typical Wimmera farm growing wheat in rotation with long fallow, and pasture. Long fallow meaning 12 months of bare cultivated soil with up to 8 or 10 cultivations. Long fallow is still widely practiced in our area.
Most farmers burn their crop residues prior to cultivation.
A practice that is very costly to the environment. We have not burnt any residues since 1982 and no cultivation has taken place since 1984. All crop is direct seeded into the undisturbed residues from the previous season's crop. In Australia the belief that pasture must be included in a crop rotation is deeply entrenched in the minds of not only traditional farmers but agricultural research and extension people as well. It is a practice that has come from the early settlers from England and still persists today.