Riverina farmer Roy Hamilton knows a lot about rainfall.
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Thanks to the efforts of his grandfather and father, in addition to his own, he has more than 120 years of rainfall figures for the family property at Rand, near Urana.
Using his family’s records and additional figures from the Daysdale and Urana post offices, Mr Hamilton has been able to build up a comprehensive record of rainfall in the area for 128 years.
According to Mr Hamilton’s figures, 2018 has been the third driest year on record on his property, behind 1982 and 2002.
He said the 50 millimetres of rain recorded in the first two weeks of November was the equivalent of about half of what had previously fallen over the whole 2018 growing season.
Mr Hamilton’s figures show that just 110mm fell this season, far short of the long-term average of 290mm.
Primarily grain and fat lamb producers, the Hamilton family has owned Bogandillan Pastoral Company, a 4400-hectare farming operation for more than 90 years.
Mr Hamilton said keeping rainfall records had given him a new respect for Australia’s pioneering farmers.
“They had no records to rely on when they were planting their crops,” he said.
“They grew wheat in Cobar in the 1890s when there was a run of wet years.”
Mr Hamilton is also wary of labelling weather events by the average frequency.
“We had ‘one in 100 year’ flooding three times in three years: In October 2010, February 2011 and March 2012,” he said.
On his property, Mr Hamilton has put his rainfall knowledge to good use, by adopting farming methods designed to cope with growing crops in drier seasons.
Mr Hamilton, who is also a Grains Research and Development Corporation northern region panel member, believes farmers need to learn to adapt how to grow crops in a drier climate.
He said his figures show there has been a long-term pattern of less rain falling during growing season, particularly the critical months of September and October.
The climate was becoming more volatile, he said
“But this is a great industry at being adaptive,” Mr Hamilton said.