It will be business as usual on Ken Croser’s 450-hectare farm at Taylors Lake, with sowing already started.

“We usually grow a bit of canola, barley, wheat, oats and lentils – whatever we feel like, really,” he said.

He said he would grow canola this year despite a lack of rain in the Wimmera leading up to the start of the sowing season.

“We’ll grow it unless something really dramatic happens,” he said.

“The lack of rain is a concern, but we have to work on average years as well.

“A couple of our paddocks have been tested and brought back results of high moisture, so we’ll be growing canola in those paddocks.”

Sowing has also already started on Matt Beddison’s 1500-hectare property at Pimpinio.

Mr Beddison said he planned on growing barley, lentils, wheat, canola and chickpeas this year, however he would be backing off lentils after India imposed a 60 per cent tariff on the crop.

“Hopefully that will change and we can start focusing on growing them again,” he said.

“We predominantly grow cereals – barley and wheat – but legumes make up about 30 to 40 per cent of our rotation.”

Mr Beddison said barley and wheat sowing started on Friday.

“We’ll continue with that for the next week and then assess what to do next,” he said. 

“I’m still fairly optimistic about this season, but it would be great to see an opening rain soon.

“Things can change quickly, and the forecasts aren’t screaming that it will be a drought.”

Malcolm Eastwood runs a 1300-hectare property at Kaniva with his son Sam.

He said he remained optimistic about the season “at this stage”.

“Last year was wet and we still have sub-soil in the paddock,” he said. 

“We hoping that there is a break in mid-May; everything is tracking normal, but not by much.”

Mr Eastwood said he hoped to start sowing this week.

“We will start with vetch hay and canola,” he said.

”Living in the western Wimmera means we have a fair amount of rain in the spring. It is bone dry here right now, but it’s safer to sow in that condition.”

Andrew Colbert owns several properties around the Nhill area, growing a variety of crops. He said lentils were the only crop that was “up-in-the-air” at the moment.

“The tariff imposed by India was a political decision, so it’s hard to predict when it will be revoked,” he said.

“Most modern rotations you can’t just plant cereals, you need to mix it up.”

Mr Colbert said sowing began on his properties on Anzac Day – a tradition that has been running for 20 years.

“We started with vetch hay and canola,” he said. 

“I prefer sowing ion the dust rather the the mud. Nearly every year we sow at least a third in the dust, so it’s business as usual.

“You can’t pick a winning season at this point in time.”