Rawlinson and Brown agronomist, Drew Braithwaite, Griffith, said the rain was too late for the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) where “most guys are a third of a way through harvest”.
Mr Braithwaite said the rain would help fill up the moisture profile in fallow paddocks for next year’s crop.
Griffith’s 22mm on the weekend was enough to bring harvest to a standstill for a little while.
“Some people stopped harvesting but they (farmers) were heading into green crop anyway,” he said.
Frustrated Lockhart farmer, Jim Morgan, “Cooinda”, described the 29mm recorded at his place as a “complete waste of time”, although, on the positive side he said it would benefit lucerne and help to generate feed for livestock.
“We are harvesting here at the moment so it didn’t do anything for our crops,” he said.
Mr Morgan said his canola averaged a tonne to the hectare and he was stripping barley this week.
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) district agronomist at Albury, Janet Walker, said the falls of up to 40mm in her district were “good widespread-soaking rain”.
She said the potential benefits for wheat crops were mixed depending on what stage they were at in the growing season and what areas they were in.
“Around Gerogery and Henty there is still some benefit from the rain in terms of grain fill,” she said.