Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times
Farmers could be forced out of their paddocks for twice as many hours and harvest pushed into the hottest, driest months of the year under proposed changes to the Grain Harvesting Code of Practice, Grain Producers SA has warned.
GPSA chair Adrian McCabe said changes proposed by the CFS to the Grass Fire Danger Index cease harvest threshold represented a zero risk approach which would stop farmers harvesting when it was safe to go ahead.
“The $4.6 billion grain industry simply does not exist without the ability to harvest during these times,” he said.
“The Code must be balanced for grain producers to do their job and contribute billions of dollars to the state’s economy, as they do year in, year out.”
The GFDI is based on temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and dryness (curing) of the crop.
Mr McCabe said the CFS had put forward a preferred option of decreasing the GFDI cut-off from the current practice of 35 measured at two metres (equivalent of 55 measured at 10metres) to 28 at 2metres (40 at 10metres).
He said GPSA had proposed the new GFDI ceiling should be 33 at 2m (50 at 10m) instead.
“This would be a fair copromise and allow grain producers to cease and clear paddocks prior to reaching the Total Fire Ban limit and meet the legal requirements,” Mr McCabe said.
“Community safety is forefront of mind for grain producers.
“The previous code has been well adopted and has great adherence.
” Mr McCabe said SA farmers were among the best equipped in the country to fight fires and were supported by the state government’s farm firefighting unit grants.
He said data from independent weather station network Agbyte showed a GFDI threshold of 28 at 2m would result in significant time off the header during harvest.
Agbyte data collected at Warnertown in the Mid North between November 2017 and June 2023 showed 499 hours were lost at a GFDI of 35 at 2m.
But if the GFDI had been set at 28 at 2m, harvesting would have been on hold for almost 1000 hours.
Agbyte data for the same period from Thomas Plains, between Bute and Paskeville, showed 502 hours had been lost under the current GFDI cut-off.
That figure would have increased to 758 hours under the proposed change to GFDI 28.
“The data analysis from Agbyte weather stations shows us a GFDI of 28 at 2m is unworkable if we want to get an almost $5b crop harvested without pushing into January and February, traditionally the hottest and driest months of the year,” Mr McCabe said.
“If the Minister for Emergency Services decides to side with the CFS and not grain producers, he will be choosing to take growers off headers for critical hours in harvest during times which have proven to be safe for more than a decade.”
A CFS spokesperson said the organisation would continue to work with industry and government to find a resolution to the cease harvest threshold for the upcoming season that supported farming communities and protected life, property and the environment.
This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 22 August 2023.
