I am an urbanite but broadly aware it's too early for Australian...

I am an urbanite but broadly aware it's too early for Australian east coast winter crops such as wheat, canola and barley to be planted - that occurs in April/May does it not - but good to see rain at NSW locations like Narrabri (24.0mm 0900 - 1740 hours so far on Monday 8 March 2021), Moree (12.2mm) and Merriwa (8.0mm).

Walgett (another area that had a bumper crop just harvested, but had been in severe drought for several years) looks like it's about to receive a bucketing, and further south in the NSW Riverina there's the odd bit around Wagga Wagga.One assumes this helps to build confidence levels among growers, though they know better than me not to count chickens too early.

There's also reasonable rain in some parts of Victoria, such as Charlton (6.2mm), Warracknabeal (2.6mm) and developing in Gippsland's Bairnsdale. I'm no grower/farmer, but parts of Victoria like the Mallee have lighter soils so rain when the crops are planted is more important than pre-planting.

The rain builds confidence among graingrowers and livestock farmers, plus horticulturalists. The positivity is good for NUF, which I don't hold as I lack spare cash, but for disclosure I have BGA ELD and GNC among other rural-exposed stocks.

No negative headlines about bushfires (very few so far in 2021!) also help rural residents' mental health with a side effect being they're more likely to invest if operating an agricultural business.