Fears of fires disrupting the tour itinerary of those travelling on the Irish Tillage and Land Use Society (ITLUS) tour have been misplaced, as rain preceded the touring party in Western Australia initially and now in New South Wales.

While there is lots of evidence of where fires had been, many areas have received 30mm to 80mm in the past 10 days since the Irish rain crew arrived.

But such are the pressures of the multi-year drought that soil is very dry and burned and is now moving in wind and sand storms in dust bowl circumstances. But it does send the warning that a bit too much rain is better than prolonged drought.

In this picture I took earlier this week (see tweet below), clouds are gathering for a very dramatic and unique sand storm over Parkes, New South Wales.

This represents the transfer of fine soil particles across regions in Australia, a scene reminiscent of the dust bowl in the USA some decades ago. The storm happens where large areas of soil are left bare in a hot climate.

When the rain does fall, its impact is horrific, with hundreds of tonnes of soil being washed off of totally bare fields. Our climate may be challenging, but it is benign.

Highlights

ITLUS members have been travelling across Australia during January visiting a range of farms. Below are pictures of some of the key highlights so far.

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