A Wimmera agricultural leader believes Sri Lanka's economic crisis has increased the price of lentils and is impacting Wimmera broadacre farmers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Former-Victorian Farmers Federation Wimmera president Graeme Maher said the increased prices related to the Sri Lankan Government being unable to buy products such as fertiliser.
Read More:
Mr Maher said lentils were selling for about $900 per tonne because Sri Lankan farmers would be unable to meet the demand as they originally had planned.
"The Sri Lankan farmers have only grown half the amount of food," he said.
A Wimmera broadacre farmer has said increased prices meant farmers could deal with high input prices.
David Jochinke said in his farming career he had never seen input prices reach the levels they were at currently.
"Supply chain issues in the sub-continent are causing a demand for lentils," he said.
Mr Jochinke said Wimmera farmers were hoping they could sell their produce for a high price when harvest season approached.
"If we don't see those high commodity prices it could be challenging for us," he said.
More News:
Mr Maher said Wimmera broadacre farmers were also planting lentils to deal with inflated urea prices.
He said imposed sanctions on Russia, and the Chinese Government stockpiling urea had created inflated prices for the commodity.
Mr Maher said the price of urea had risen to about $1600 during the Russia and Ukraine conflict but had recently fallen to around $1200.
"Lentils and chickpeas have been planted because the price of urea was so high," he said.
"Legumes take nitrogen out of the air and put it into the soil which means you don't need urea."
Mr Maher said Wimmera broadacre farmers' harvest preparations had been positive.
"The soil temperature is back to 20 degrees and we had all our crops planted before winter started," he said.
If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Wimmera Mail-Times, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling your stories. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.