When things get busy

Few people outside seasonal industries quite understand how busy it can get when you have the opportunity to finally stretch out and meet the market. And at this transitional stage of the year, some farmers will want more rain to finish crops or fill up the huge storages that will drive summer irrigation, while others want it to dry out so their winter crops can be harvested and their summer crops planted.

In aerial application, every year is seasonal because we are there to do a job: protect crops, kill disease, apply fertiliser, sow seed or put out bushfires. This can place very unusual demands on both companies and personnel when the time to make your entire annual income can be as short as a few months – or in some years simply non-existent.

The key challenge of course is to keep things safe – fatigue managed, maintenance completed on time, adequate time for planning – and confidence to say ‘No’ when it is required.

However, the ability of companies to effectively manage large fluctuations in workload over relatively short periods of time can also be a headache. Trying to match aircraft, pilot and mixer capacity to rain forecasts is every bit as hard as it sounds, and ensuring cash flow remains positive and you are not left with an unmanageable tax bill can also be a challenge.

A particularly wet winter season can add additional complications including wet strips that can’t be used, longer ferries, smaller application windows in between cold fronts and new clients and paddocks that haven’t been treated in years.

And when we talk about application ‘windows’, we mean times when it is not too windy (too much drift of chemical), not too calm (indicating an inversion and unsafe to spray), not looking like rain (might wash chemical off), not too hot (some chemicals have temperature limitations), and which fits into overall logistical, client and business requirements.

But in a strategic sense, wet winters are always welcome because of the widespread good they do for the rural economy and farmers’ personal well-being. If there is money in the community, then everyone benefits: aviation, contractors, towns, employment and the widest possible range of service providers including accommodation, hospitality, health, schools and councils.

There’s an old saying that ‘there’s money in mud’, and aviation comes into its own when the only way to treat crops is from the air. But aerial application has a wide range of other benefits for farmers ranging from speed of application (up to six hectares/minute), effective use of their time and resources, zero soil compaction and no yield loss by trampling crops with a tractor or boom spray that could be as high as five per cent loss.

In aerial application, every year is seasonal.

Speed of application may be a curious advantage when thinking about slow-growing crops, but crop diseases and pests can go from barely noticeable to a wipe-out in very short periods of time because of their exponential growth patterns.

Rust is a fungal disease of wheat and becomes far more likely when rain keeps humidity high and plants wet, and when there is a ‘green bridge’ across the previous summer that allows fungus spores to survive. Consequently, regular frontal systems fuel exponential growth that can significantly damage yields without an active crop protection program that includes close monitoring and rapid response.

This autumn, for example, saw farmers across eastern Australia plant a record crop of chick peas. The Indian market for this product continues to grow apace and prices quoted for delivery of chick peas were ranging around the $1,000 per tonne mark – wheat is often lucky to make $300/t. But the season doesn’t end when the crop is in the ground. With increased moisture constantly on plants, the risk of an outbreak of a fungus, in particular ascochyta rabiei, is severe – a threat that has previously wiped out entire crops. Consequently, the aerial spraying campaign to protect chick peas across the winter has been widespread.

Without the rain, there is likely to be no fungus. Without the fungus there is no need for fungicide, and without that demand, the aircraft stays in the hanger or on the pad. That is what a seasonal industry looks like.