Gilded by the gold

Glistening yellow fields of canola at Northampton provided a stunning backdrop for a creation by Natasha Gilmartin of Arctic Moon Photography.

She called on friend and aspiring model, Geraldton resident Ashton Ryan to be the face of the photo, which was taken on the Stanich family’s property at Northampton.

Ms Gilmartin thought a stunning field of canola would add a perfect backdrop to her creative photography efforts - which emphasises the colour yellow - and the Stanich family were happy to lend their land.

Tristan Stanich, who farms with wife Rowena, parents Des and Glenda, and Brother and sister-in-law Joel and Chelsea, run a 3000ha cropping program comprising RR canola, Mace and Wyalkatchem wheat and Coromup lupins. They also run a small mob of breeding cattle, a mix of Angus, Murray Grey and Charolais.

Mr Stanich said the family were feeling confident about the season after receiving rainfall almost every week since the break on May 20.

“We’ve had 300mm so far in the growing season and the longest we have gone without rain has been just 10 days. There’s plenty of subsoil moisture in the ground and crops are looking excellent,” he said.

“In particular, the 120mm we received over July has really set us up. We are now hoping to get a few good rains in coming weeks to keep the good run going.”

Mr Stanich is expecting his harvest will start during the last week of September or first week of October, kicking off with canola which was planted in mid April.