Mr Midwood said the 2010 season was the wettest he had seen in Victoria’s Western District, and that farmers had been caught out if they had become ambitious with their paddock selection this year.

“Over the run of dry years, we’ve seen a few low-lying paddocks go into crop that aren’t really suitable as they get too wet through winter and spring.

“Due to the dry conditions in other years, farmers have got away with the punt, but this year, these paddocks are being found out.”

He said farmers in the high rainfall zone generally had strategies to help water drain as well as possible, but many had become blasé with issues such as maintaining raised beds, as recent seasons had not tested the beds.

“You’ve seen people either not doing all the maintenance on raised beds or even letting them go altogether and this is the year where that becomes an issue.”

He said, as a rule, farmers in the 600mm plus rainfall zone have fared better with the wet, as they had been forced to contend with it most years at some stage.

“Where it gets a little drier, farmers haven’t had to contend with these conditions for a while.”

Mr Midwood said crop selection for paddocks susceptible to waterlogging was also crucial.

“The wheats withstand the wet the best, and further to that, although there is no specific evidence, it appears the red wheats handle it the best of all.”

He said crops would suffer from a combination of lack of oxygen from the saturated soil profile and from a shortage of nitrogen.

Although crop death is only the result in severe cases, he said the stunting of the root system could be an issue later on in the year.

“Because the waterlogging effectively is pruning root ties, if it does become tight later in the season, crops struggle to tap down into the moisture.

“You often see crops that were too wet, ironically, later in the season also suffer worse from the impacts of dry conditions.”

Mr Midwood said short-season barley was a possible option for growers facing crop losses.

“Generally the short-season barleys struggle to finish off, due to the high late-season ambient temperatures, but if we do continue to move into a La Nina-type pattern, with wetter and cooler conditions, maybe they will be able to get a good finish for 90-day crops.”