While crops are thriving above ground, the soil moisture probes are telling the full story of just how well the season is tracking.

Driscoll Ag agronomist Lewis Cain said he was monitoring about 20 probes across the region, mainly around Maryborough, with a few also near Boort, and most were showing full or near-full profiles down to 66cm.

“At the moment they are all pretty much full. The soil profiles are full everywhere,” Lewis said.

In a canola paddock at Mount Cameron, the probes showed 100 per cent moisture in the top 20cm, 80 per cent at 40cm and 88 per cent at 66cm, a reading Lewis said gave significant confidence for the months ahead.

With forecasts of a drier finish, farmers were aware that the current soil moisture depth could be what allows crops to get through to harvest.

“On that soil type there is enough to carry a crop through,” he said.

Lewis said the dryland canola, grown by Fawcett Partnership, was about two to three weeks ahead of where it would normally be and was looking exceptional. “Things are flying along,” he said.

However, he estimated it might be a couple of weeks before ground rigs could get back on the paddocks for further spraying.

The property’s cropping manager Leo Fitzgibbon said the season was looking exceptional and it was a stark contrast to last year when rain had only really just arrived at this time.

“This time last year was completely different. We had moisture on top, but there was no moisture at depth,” he said.

Leo said it wasn’t just the amount of the rainfall but the timing. The region had received 49mm of rain so far for July, while the falls from January to June 30 were at 263, which was just above the long-term average of 259mm for the same period.