FROM one extreme to the other is how East Gippsland farmer Andrew Dumaresq described this cropping year.
Mr Dumaresq was direct heading his second paddock of canola near Lindenow last week and said harvest was running two weeks behind, due to recent, unseasonal rain.
East Gippsland has been dry for more than a decade, but exceeded its average rainfall this year by almost 100mm.
And, unlike most of Victoria's cropping regions, it received more-than-average rainfall in the growing season.
"We've had 10 to 12 years of drought, but this year we've had a bit too much rain in the growing season," Mr Dumaresq said.
"It's made weed control very difficult and it put stress on the plants, which affected growth.
"It's been a difficult (season) - we have gone from one extreme to the other."
Mr Dumaresq said wet conditions prevented him accessing paddocks during part of the year and he had to resort to aerial application for herbicides and fertiliser.
"It's not something we budgeted on," he said.
He said thunderstorms in the past few weeks had also knocked a lot of seed heads from his 120ha canola crop, but he still expected it to yield 2.5 tonnes a hectare.
The canola will go to Geelong, about 350km away, but his 150ha of wheat will be sold to local stock feed companies, which service the dairy industry.
Mr Dumaresq, who farmed with his wife, Cathy, had only cropped for eight to 10 years.
He diversified from wool and meat sheep to balance the risks.
"Ideally, we will have half our income from sheep and half from cropping, so we are not relying on one particular commodity," he said.
