Southern NSW farmers celebrate best rain break in years

Isolation is a way of life for people on the land.

And the start to the year, for most southern NSW farmers, couldn't have been better.

Rain has drenched farm land north of Albury for the majority of March and April - some receiving close to 80 millimetres in just 48 hours this week.

Some properties had more than 100 millimetres fall, just this week alone.

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For Brocklesby farmer Jordan Schilg, the rain has brought close to the perfect start to his canola crops.

"I tipped out 42 milimetres one morning and then 36 millimetres the next," he said.

"Probably since about March we had pretty good rains and now through April so it has been nice while doing a bit of sowing.

"We had just finished our canola crop before the rain and we have already got some wheat in as well.

"The timing was pretty great and does set us up for a decent season."

Agronomist Tim Paramore believes the grazing canola crop will be the "most impressive this year".

"That was put in early and now with all this rain they have just shot up out of the ground," he said.

"There is so much activity going on where I normally look at May 15 before we normally get any sort of break.

"I have been asking farmers around here when was the last time they can remember having a break like this - and most of them can't tell you.

"It could be 20 years realistically, we just haven't seen constant rain like this for years."

Mr Schilg said some farmers started sowing early this year to take advantage of the conditions.

"Quite a few people have got on and started some grazing stuff early too," he said.

"There were a lot of bare paddocks there early on so they just started sowing early to get a bit of feed around.

"We know that sun after rain is always good - it makes things happen.

"But going from the last couple of years where we have been waiting for rain all the time and not getting it to now it is pretty nice at the moment. I have heard a few people saying we don't want that much rain but I think we will take what it is going to give us."

Mr Paramore, who is based at Walla, said while farmers are busy, there have been some concerns over export.

"There are concerns with international exports and there has been a shortage of chemicals because they just can't keep up with demand because imports are slow," he said.

"We just have to hope the economy doesn't fall in a heap in the meantime - farmers are doing well, we just hope everything else can bounce back.

"Let's just hope the rain continues so we can see that runoff into dams. I think this will be a great year for our region's farmers if this beautiful rain continues."