With about 120mm so far, Greg and Callum Evans have had a good seeding at Bullaring

Bullaring farmer Greg Evans considers himself very lucky to have received about 120mm so far for 2023.

His farm is located in a small strip which received 20mm at the start of the year, followed by 40mm and 45mm falls, batches of 10mm and a couple of 5mm falls.

The amount of rain the farm received was often more than what was forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology and Mr Evans said he was sitting in a "real purple spot" this season - and that Quairading was even wetter than Bullaring.

The rain has set up his farm well and he was happy to be seeding into moisture this month.

Mr Evans usually seeds early and stuck to his plan to put in canola and lupins in early April.

He said it was just pure luck their planned seeding had lined up with gifts from the weather gods.

"We're in a lucky strip, so we're still sitting in the moisture, the coverage in this area has been pretty lucky," Mr Evans said.

"We're just lucky enough that it did rain, before we started seeding, which was nice."

He knew of some mates further north who hadn't received anywhere near as much rainfall and he didn't want to be seen as bragging.

The relatively smooth seeding program should be completed by the end of this week.

While optimistic for the season, given the good start, Mr Evans said he would always welcome more rain.

The farm has already received half of its median yearly rainfall and only needs a bit more towards the end to have a reasonable finish.

"At the moment I'm optimistic because we're still going into moisture, but I definitely wouldn't knock a rain," Mr Evans said.

"We'd love to get a rain on top, but obviously we have some mates who haven't had as much, so we are in a pretty good spot, I think."

He said farmers have become better at growing a crop with average to below-average rainfall - which was a reason to remain optimistic despite the dry forecast.

"I think nowadays farmers are pretty good at growing a crop every season, so that's a reason to be half optimistic," Mr Evans said.

The 3000 hectare farm is a father/son enterprise, with his son Callum opting to work on the family farm rather than learning a trade.

Callum originally spent some time working on bigger farms up north, before returning home to work with his father.

Sometimes when things get busy, Mr Evans' daughters who are at university return to lend a helping hand.

The undulating farm was susceptible to frost, which is always at the front of mind when seeding.

In 2016, the farm was badly affected by frost which was described as "gut wrenching" and "terrible".

"Especially when you can see barley nearly full sometimes, and then it can be a week later you go look, and it's all just nothing - it's heartbreaking," Mr Evans said.

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He still believed farmers should farm for rainfall, not for frost, and he didn't hold back because of the looming possibility of frost.

"The best thing about finishing on a soft finish to the season is there is normally cloud cover and rain, which keeps frost away, doesn't it?" Mr Evans said.

"So that's more theory on things - you can get a nice moist finish and you normally don't get much frost."

Last season was good for the farm, although Mr Evans wouldn't say it was his best.

A new Ausplow aircraft and Ausplow DBS 50 foot bar were used for seeding this year, making the program more efficient.

The June 30 tax-write off was included in the thought process.

Mr Evans was thankful that he was a bit older and wouldn't have to deal with the rapid advances in agricultural technology, which he admitted were a little scary.

"The young ones are going to pick it up and run with it," he said.

"I think it's going to move quickly in the next five years, you're gonna see a lot more autonomous stuff, farm bots and that sort of thing."

But Mr Evans said he would like to try automation, especially with the tight labour force.

The business has considered hiring another worker, but had found it difficult.

"We'd love to have another person to make things even smoother, but it's just pretty hard to get good labour," he said.

"With backpackers - you can get some good ones but you can get some shockers."

As is the case across WA, Mr Evans couldn't believe how much land values had skyrocketed.

"Land seems to be going up exponentially," he said.

Expansion has been considered but high land prices and labour shortages meant they have kept it to a two-man operation.

After trialling two new canola varieties last year, with pleasing results, they will be included this year - growing InVigor R 4520P and InVigor R 4022P, which are both TruFlex with PodGuard, and Pioneer 44y27.

"Pioneer 44y27 isn't TruFlex, and it is also a bit shattering, but there's a real good yield," Mr Evans said.

"They seem to change canola varieties very regularly, but we were happy with what we had so we got them again."

They are growing Maximus barley, which is a regular in their rotation, and also trialling Vixen wheat for the first time.

"We are trying Vixen wheat for the first time, instead of Scepter, but that won't be going until later because it's a very short season wheat," he said.