Farmers in parts of New South Wales are facing losses totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars because record rainfall has stopped them from planting crops.

John Barber farms wheat and canola farmer near Parkes, and like many in the central west, has only planted 50 per cent of his seeds. 

Mr Barber recorded 450 millimetres of rain this year, an unprecedented amount that left paddocks too wet to drive machinery on and delayed the sowing season. 

"There is about a three or four-week period where we can put canola in. Unfortunately that continuous rain means most of us have missed that window," he said. 

"It is a new age for us here at the moment with the weather being so volatile.

"We have never seen this much rain at the start of any year." 

It is a similar story for Forbes farmer Neil Kingham who has also been forced to replant his crops on three occasions this year. 

"The canola that we sowed in April unfortunately drowned because instead of getting the 10 to 20 millimetres forecasted we got 90 millimetres and that just laid in the paddocks and drowned the seed," he said.

"We find ourselves at the end of June basically starting from scratch." 

According to agronomist Max Ridley, it is an issue facing many properties across the state. 

"For the majority of New South Wales it's been wet and they have had issues with planting and crop emergence," he said.

"There has been bugger all crop going in during the last six or eight weeks."'

Mental health concerns 

With record prices for canola and wheat, this year was being hailed as an opportunity for farmers to recoup the losses experienced during the drought between 2017 and 2019. 

Mr Barber said instead farmers had seen costs go up and yields would probably be well done come harvest, pushing many to breaking point. 

"It is very draining to see the price of wheat and the price of canola where it is and to not be able to get on the land to plant it, it takes its toll," he said.

Perfect conditions needed 

Recently the Bureau of Meteorology announced that La Niña, the weather pattern that has brought heavy rainfall to much of the state, has ended. 

Mr Kingham said this had given farmers fresh hope that drier conditions could salvage the harvest. 

"We need a period of probably a month to seed the paddocks that are already waterlogged and give them a chance to dry out," he said. 

"From there we need cool conditions with regular rainfall but not too much rain.

"At this point we are starting to get quite picky." 

Source - https://www.abc.net.au