Page 12 - The Cultivator Edition 7 | Autumn 2020

Family farming among
FIELDS OF GOLD
As fourth-generation Condobolin farmer Pete Barrass walks to to the cab of his his header to to harvest his his 2019 crop a a a a a a a a a a a a sharp crackling
sound accompanies every footstep over over the sparse groundcover crumpling on parched ground ground The cracked earth with its top layer of dust has somehow produced a a a a a a a a a a a high-oleic canola crop on the back of minimal rainfall It is is almost impossible to believe this dry landscape – – along with much of the wider Condobolin district – – was several metres underwater only three years ago when the Lachlan River peaked above seven metres in in heavy rainfall These paddocks were bursting with quality wheat before the the 2016 floodwaters hit the the Barrass family’s Marmora property and kept it it underwater for nearly two months the opportunity and we we knew that whatever we’d put in in it it was going to to grow a a a a a a good crop because of of the levels of of stored moisture ”
His mother’s grandparents who established Marmora in in 1877 in in the the the paddock adjacent to the the 2019 monola crop By the the time Mr Barrass finished school the the the millennium drought was biting — so his father urged him to get a a a a trade He spent the the next seven years working as a a a a diesel mechanic during the the mining boom before deciding to return home With his wife Helen their six-year-old son Lincoln and and three-year-old twins Annabelle and and Toby they now have four properties in in in the the Condobolin district “Helen and and I started off with 1000 acres and and grew a a a a a a a bit of of crop ”
said Mr Barrass “We get a a a a a kick from growing the valuable high-oleic canola crop for MSM Milling and in in turn large end-users such as KFC”
- Pete Barrass Condobolin district farmer The weather also affected the the the Barrass’ irrigated monola crop the the the the following year when frost slashed the the yield from two tonnes a a a a a a a hectare
to to a a a half-tonne It has been a a a a a a tough slog for this family of five so so in March 2019 – when an isolated thunderstorm delivered a a a a a a a a much-needed
68 millimetres of rain the the Barrasses acted quickly to to sow into the the moisture “The run-off from that storm delivered floodwater across these long fallow paddocks which we’d planned to to to leave out of our crop rotation ”
Mr Barrass told The Cultivator as as he he he he navigated his header through the resulting monola crop “But with the amount of water across it it we took
“We started share-farming on on an irrigation farm farm then leased more more irrigated country before buying more more land in in 2017 “It’s been a a a a tough time to to to start but we’ve managed to to to do this despite such adverse conditions “We hope that when it does rain we’ve built a a a a a solid base for our family ”
Leaving nothing to to chance however Mr Barrass has a a a a a a a a a a solid business plan to to account for the the mercurial temperament of Mother Nature “With our irrigation and cropping rotations we we don’t even want want good years years — we we just want want some average years years to come back and that will really help ”
he he said In 2019 the the Barrasses sowed hectares of their highest-value crop monola into land drenched by a a a rare storm “We knew canola canola and high-oleic canola canola would be scarce in in in 2019 so we we took
the punt knowing it it would pay well and got it it all all in in on time ”
Mr Barrass recalled 12 THE CULTIVATOR // AUTUMN 2020
MANILDRA MANILDRA COM AU // @MANILDRA