While growers in the region aren’t feeling the pinch as much as their dryland counterparts, there’s no doubting they would like to see rain fall to fill the dams and river systems. 

Rabobank’s latest Rural Confidence Survey found the net confidence indicator had dropped back over the past quarter to one of its lowest readings in four years, as many of the state’s farmers anxiously awaited rain to “set them up” for the year ahead.

The numbers indicated more NSW farmers are now holding a negative rather than a positive view, the net confidence indicator had dipped into negative territory to -3 per cent, from 15 per cent in December last year.

While growers in the MIA weren’t at that point, they agreed it was important rain fall soon. 

Cotton grower Dallas Stott said conditions “weren’t too bad”. 

“It’s obviously very dry,” he said. 

“At the moment it’s definitely worse for the dryland guys, but for irrigators it’s still looking okay. We’ve just had a 4 per cent increase to the general security allocation, which I think brings it to around 38 per cent and we had 30 per cent carry over this year. So all up that’s pretty good for us. 

“We do need rain in the catchments, but it’s not at dire straits yet.”

It has been a long summer with little-to-no rain falling in the region. 

So far for 2018, just 25.2 millimetres of rain has fallen in Leeton, with the last decent downpour in December, according to grower John Houghton. 

He too felt he was travelling along well despite the dry times. “We’ll need it to rain at some point … at the moment it’s just really dusty,” Mr Houghton said. 

At the moment, the local grower is currently harvesting his corn crop, with rice to come off within the next month. “Dryland cotton yields have suffered from the lack of summer rainfall, but irrigated cotton is faring well across all valleys,” Rabobank regional manager for Riverina Peter Evans said.

The southern cotton plant in the Riverina was “looking superb”, he said, with more than 75,000 hectares planted – an increase of 70 per cent year-on-year. By commodity sector, NSW grain growers were the most positive about the outlook for the next 12 months.