The Central West received much needed rain across the latter part of last week with up to 86 millimetres falling at the Bureau of Meterology's weather station at Parkes Airport.
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On a bumper Saturday, 68.6mm fell at Parkes Airport, with up to 100mm falling in other areas surrounding Parkes.
According to the Bureau of Meterology, Forbes saw 67.4mm fall from Thursday to Sunday, while Young had almost 50mm. Grenfell and Cowra fell just shy of 40mm worth of rain; still a very strong result.
As a result, dams are finally rising and grain farmers will be preparing to sow their crops in the coming weeks, after a lean couple of years where many did not plant at all. Many farmers in the Central West haven't been able to harvest a profit since 2016, with 2019 being a particularly hard year.
To put the 2020 rainfall in context, there's been more rain since the start of February than there was in the whole of 2019.
Parkes based agronomist Peter Yelland says the rainfall was desperately needed in the area after a brutal year in 2019.
"Rainfall breeds confidence for growers, the confidence to invest and spend money to make money. That is one of the most important benefits of the heavy rain over the weekend."
With winter sowing season beginning shortly, the most promising aspect of the recent rain is the ability for farmers to grow higher value crops like canola and lupins.
"Last year we thought we'd never grow canola again it was so bad, but now we have a profile of moisture in the soil and it is trending to be the best yield in a number of years," says Peter.
Agriculture has never been a more attractive career prospect with COVID-19 driving a huge increase in demand, and this rain will continue to push confidence in the sector higher.
Eating is a basic human need, and that's what farmers do. Make sure to support your local farmers.
